KrickKRACK
by The Light's Refrain
Summary: Chaotic art, apathetic sister, distancing friends...as far as Beat's concerned, Shibuya, his whole world, is going crazy! Well, maybe it is. Or maybe the one he should be worried about the most is himself...COMPLETE!
1. Scale 1: Emptiness and Game Over

_Hello!_

_A long time ago (a long time being late last year) this was part of Noise of Regalement as a Beat vs Rhyme story(my other multi-type TWEWY fic) But the plot was underdeveloped and didn't really fit, so it got cut. But it didn't die. Instead, months later, it mutates into this XD. _

_My theory of consumption applies to this fic due to its orgins, though it doesn't play a central role. Don't worry, it'll be explained this chapter. People who have read Regalement already know about the details. Aside from consumption, this story no longer bears a link to Regalement, so you don't have to read that one to understand this one (though people who have had read Regalement might be able to predict some things in this chapter ahead of time)_

_Also, updates for this will probably be erratic. I have things like COLLEGE and ART BOOTH to worry about. I do know that this will be a three-part fic._

_I thank RikuAura777 and James Firebrand for beta'ing this for me. You guys rock! XD_

_**Disclaimer: No I don't own TWEWY. There's no way I could fit everybody into this dorm.**_

**_III_**

"_A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession." –Albert Camus_

**Krick-KRACK**

**Scale 1 – Emptiness and Game Over**

His back hurt. Daisukenojo Bito, better known as Beat, didn't know why his back hurt. Maybe it was because of his lumpy bed (how old was that thing anyway?), or maybe it was his part-time job moving furniture from trucks. Maybe it was from that awkward landing after his otherwise perfect skateboarding trick. Maybe it was from all that stuff…

But that didn't matter now, not when everything was so good. They were all hanging out at Ramen Don, the best ramen-and-noodle spot in Shibuya. Shiki was laughing at some silly little tune Neku had made up, something about puppies and kitties, their bowls of ramen already devoured. Beat himself was halfway through his second bowl of curry. Yep, Mr. Doi knew how to make good food.

"Geez, little runts are so noisy," groused Uzuki, her own bowl nearly empty.

"Those little runts have managed to kick our butts a couple of times too," reminded her partner Kariya, stirring his ramen restlessly. "They've earned a little rowdy time."

"Whatever…"

Beat grinned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

That's right. They had saved the world. Everything was perfect. Rhyme, his little sister Rhyme, sitting there smiling, was proof enough of that. And that was all that mattered.

IIIIII

Well, Beat supposed not _everything _was perfect.

For one, Mr. H, the awesome Mr. H, was out of town. There had been a note taped to the outside of the WildKat café, saying something about "being summoned by higher powers", whatever that meant. He hadn't even said when he was coming back. So that was kind of a letdown.

And Joshua was being annoying. Beat thought that the Composer of Shibuya would have better things to do besides animating their school supplies and making their food fly around the restaurant like birds, but no, he did it anyway. Then there was that time when he had to chase his psych-possessed skateboard all over Shibuya, while Neku raced after his flying headphones…yeah, he could live without stuff like that.

And then there were his parents, those upstanding parents he could never please. His loose clothes and big black skull hat were viewed as a youthful abomination, and such a bad influence on their dear Raimu (_Her name's not Rhyme, they insisted, it's Raimu. Stop being such_ _a_ _child_, _Daisukeno_- It's Beat, man, Beat! And she's Rhyme! - _Don't speak to us in such an insolent manner! You can't even pass your classes on your own, your friends_ – They help, man, they help, that ain't cheating! Right, Rhyme? – _Don't call her by that childish_-)

…Anyway, that wasn't anything new. The Game changed a lot of things, but it didn't change that. It wasn't worth trying to change. Though he tried anyway.

And work sucked. Well, everybody's work sucked. Shiki worked at Sunshine Stationside (_"I wish that guy would stop hitting on me_!") Neku worked at the Le Grand clothes store. (_Yeah, I wish the guy at work would stop hitting on me too. _– Wha? But you're a – _Exactly.) _

And everyone would be so _angry_. Not because of the low pay and tedious exertion, but because of all the heckling: by customer, by employee, and by employer alike, how it constrained their freedom and creativity and talent…how they had come back from the dead just to sell their Soul to make money and survive, to end up ants like their parents…he sure didn't want to end up like his parents.

And his back hurt. Sometimes his head did too.

…But otherwise things were pretty good.

IIIIII

Art was thriving. It seemed like everyone in Shibuya was discovering some kind of creative talent, a revolutionary talent. Yeah, that was the word. Revolution. Shibuya was experiencing an artistic revolution.

Neku and Shiki were caught in the crest of this creative wave. Neku's music and graffiti, already commanding and enchanting, were becoming more legendary every day, at least in Beat's view. So were Shiki's designs for clothes and toys. They would lead this new revolution. He just knew it.

And his talent? Well…he had gotten better at skateboarding. And he could make more people laugh at his antics. Those were kind of arts, weren't they?

…Eh, he was never the artsy type anyway.

Though Rhyme, she loved art. Drawing, music, everything. She would always scamper over, eager to show off her newest doodle, her playful poetry…

She hadn't done any showing off for awhile, now that he thought of it. She hadn't been scampering around either.

IIIIII

"Yo, Rhyme!" Beat called out, his trusty skateboard tucked under his arm. "You wanna go to the park?"

The petite blonde, her form such a stark contrast to her towering older brother's, looked up at him with the usual mild smile.

"Sure," she answered, before her cheerful expression faded. "Oh wait, I can't."

"Why not? Somethin' wrong?" asked Beat, his own liveliness suddenly dulling. "You ain't feeling bad, are you?"

"No, it's not that," Rhyme answered, smiling again. "It's just Mom and Dad have grounded me."

"Wha?! For what?!"

"Bad grades."

Beat was stunned. Rhyme was a near-perfect, no, _the_ perfect student. Rhyme didn't get bad grades. _He _was the one who got bad grades, not her.

"…What class, yo?"

"All of them," she said with a straight face.

He stared. He couldn't help it. He figured it was a bad teacher, and that's why she was doing badly. But that was assuming it was just one class…

He sat down beside her, putting his skateboard aside.

"Yo, what's going down? This ain't like you."

Rhyme sighed.

"I dunno…" she admitted, looking down. "It's just…"

"Just what?" asked Beat. "It ain't bullies, is it? 'Cause if it is, I'll-"

"No, it's not that," Rhyme interrupted. "It's…well…I can't seem to get motivated to do anything."

"Motivated?"

"Yeah."

"Why not?"

"I dunno…" Rhyme replied. "It's…it's like nothing matters anymore."

"…Yo, that sounds like depression."

"But I'm not depressed…not really. I'm not sad, and I don't have any reason to be sad. I'm just…not interested in anything. It's like I have no passion."

Beat was silent for a moment.

"Why didn't you tell me Rhyme?" he asked. "I mean, how long you been like this?"

"I didn't want you to worry," she replied, looking away. "I thought it was just some kind of phase or something…but, it's been a few months…it's been…since…"

Rhyme paused.

"Since what?" Beat urged.

She looked up to him.

"…The Game."

IIIIII

Beat barreled toward the Shibuya River on his skateboard. He happened to rush past Kariya, who looked kinda pale. Then again, Kariya was always naturally pale, so what did that matter?

"Hey hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asked boredly.

Beat didn't bother to pause, much less answer.

"Hey, there's a-"

The teen crashed into an invisible, electrifying force. He was thrown onto his back, while his skateboard landed beside him, still crackling with the unseen power.

"…wall there."

Beat pushed himself up, slightly singed but no less determined.

"What the hell?! Why's a wall up?!"

"So not just anyone can walk in, obviously," Kariya replied dryly, unwrapping a pop and sticking it in his mouth.

"But I ain't jus' anybody! I'm Beat, man! And I'm here to see the Composer!"

Kariya smirked.

"Oh, are you?"

"Yeah!" the strong blonde barked, stomping toward where the invisible wall was. "Yo, prissy boy! I know you hear me! _Heeey_!"

"Ah, so it _is _the petite prince who's in charge, hmm?"

Beat froze.

_Oh crap, I'm suppose to keep my trap shut about that._

"Don't worry, I'm not about to overthrow the Composer. Too much work," the tangerine-haired Reaper assured. "Carry on."

Beat waited a few moments, and then turned back to the wall.

"_Heeey_! You ain't gonna ignore me! I won't let you!" he continued yelling. "Let me in already! I wanna talk to you!"

"Must still be looking for new officer Reapers," Kariya concluded. "You know, to replace those you and your friends erased. Might want to come back and try again later."

"No way! I'm gonna see 'im, and I'm gonna see 'im _now_!"

He picked up his skateboard, let out a mighty yell, and smashed it against the wall. It sizzled loudly, cracked, and then, when he applied more pressure, shattered.

Kariya couldn't help but stare as Beat stood there panting, skateboard scorched but still intact. Shards of the now-visible wall were scattered everywhere. Hot blood slid from cuts on his face and shoulders.

"…Not bad Skulls," the Reaper finally spoke, a slightly nervous grin on his face. "Though I don't think this is going to make Jo- excuse me, _the Composer_ – any happier to see you. Why are you so desperate to talk to him anyway?"

Beat didn't answer. He just rushed forward into the dark tunnel beyond the broken wall.

IIIIII

"_Joshua_!"

The gray-maned teen glanced at the panting human in the doorway, his indigo eyes brimming with irritation. The cluster of Noise before him all turned to stare at Beat, the only being there with a rushing heartbeat, with _any _heartbeat.

The Composer sighed.

"Will you all go outside for a moment?" he suggested to the mass of monsters before him. "This…_acquaintance_ of mine apparently won't be ignored."

The Noise exploded into a swarming horde of tattoo lines, causing Beat to jump back. Their monstrous figures stripped away, Beat saw that they were Reapers, some of whom he recognized in their human form.

That unnerved him. He wouldn't have known they were Reapers if they hadn't changed back to human form. He wouldn't have known they were Noise if he had just met them on the street while they were human. Wouldn't have known that in a moment they could have become monsters, demons, and attack him if he was in the UG.

Beat wasn't interested in knowing everything, but he didn't like not knowing that.

The sharp lines wove themselves into large wings, folded flat against the Reaper's backs, and vanished beneath their clothes.

Grumbling, the now-human Reapers sulked out of the room, passing by Beat as if he wasn't there. But they knew he was there. Beat felt their eyes, some still with a yellow light, burn into him as they walked out.

Joshua watched them leave, and then turned his gaze to Beat. The gray-haired being floated over, the fish beneath the glass floor following him hungrily.

"So what is so terribly important that you must break up my recruiting session?" he asked, a cool smile on his face.

Previous fear evaporated (no, that was just uneasiness, that's all), Beat didn't hesitate.

"It's Rhyme, man. You have to fix Rhyme."

"Fix her?" asked Joshua. "But she's already been fixed. Or do you prefer her as a Noise? She certainly was cute, riding on your shoulder all the time."

"That ain't what I mean, man!" Beat shouted. "I mean, you fixed her, but you didn't fix her right! Somethin' wrong, yo. Rhyme said so herself."

"Oh? And what did she say?"

"She said she can't get motivated anymore. Like she can't get excited about anythin'. Passion, that's what she said! She don't feel passion no more."

"No passion?" the Composer mused, before his eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, _that_. Her passion was her entry fee for the Game."

"Wha?! _That _was her entry fee?!" Beat exclaimed. "Now that I think of it, we never found out what her fee really was. Hell, didn't know my fee was her memories of me until Ironface told me…"

"Yes, a most unusual circumstance," stated Joshua. "For most people, the entry fee is part of themselves. Memory, talent, or whatnot. Even selfless Rhyme lost part of herself as her entry fee. But not you. Not a single particle of you, Soul or matter, was touched. Do you really value yourself so lowly?"

"But there were people who had other _people_ as their entry fees," Beat countered. "That's what happened to Neku in the second and third of that special Game of yours!"

"True," said Joshua. "Which makes your case all the more interesting."

"Whachu mean, man?" asked Beat, stepping into the room. The fish under the glass floor swarmed under his feet.

"Do you value your sister?"

"Of course I do!" Beat barked.

"Then why wasn't she your entry fee?"

"Huh?" Beat asked. "Uh…well, she couldn't be in the Game if she was held as my entry fee! So they took her memories instead 'cause it was the next best thing, or somethin'."

"Being a Player doesn't keep you from being an entry fee," Joshua replied. "It certainly didn't keep the next Player population from being Neku's fee in the third week, did it?"

"Oh yeah," Beat answered. "Then it must've been…uh…"

He looked down at the fish swimming just below his feet. They were zealous, sharp jaws snapping and eyes glowing yellow.

Snapping jaws and glowing eyes? These fish were Noise too! The only thing that protected him from being devoured was a thin plane of glass.

"Oh, did you just notice them?" the gray-maned boy spoke, his eyes laughing. "Pardon my pets. Living, bloody prey especially excites them. But don't worry, all they can do look."

Beat glared at the ravenous aquatic beasts. He backed up into the dark corridor anyway.

"Anyway, the entry fee is what you value most, without exception," the Composer continued, smiling. "There is no next best thing."

His indigo eyes locked with Beat's dark blue ones.

"Which means that what you value most is not Rhyme herself."

"Wha?! W-Whachu talkin'-"

"Her memories. You lost her memories of you instead of Rhyme herself," said Joshua. "Now, what do you think that means, hmm? What does that say about you?"

"W-What does that…" Beat stumbled. "Look, this ain't about me! This is about Rhyme! If passion's what she's missing, then give it back!"

"Sorry, no refunds," Joshua stated flatly.

"Whatchu say?!"

"She lost the Game," Joshua answered, as if it should be obvious. "Losers don't get their entry fees back, even if they're revived later."

"But that ain't fair!"

"The world's not fair," the Composer replied nonchalantly. "You should be grateful she was brought back at all. I only did it because Sanae insisted."

"But-"

"Now really, you should worry more about yourself for once," Joshua continued, eyeing Beat's cuts. "You're dripping blood all over my floor. Now my pets will be frenzied for hours."

"What, you a clean freak all of a sudden?!" Beat snapped. "Fine! I'll jus' take my trashy hide outta here then, 'cause you ain't gonna be no help!"

He raced back down the corridor, the darkness swallowing him. Joshua did nothing to stop him.

IIIIII

He punched the garbage bin outside. Hard.

"Dammit!" Beat hissed, punching the bin again. "Dammit! Dammit! _Dammit_!"

Burning tears slipped down his cheeks, and he leaned against the bin.

"…Dammit…"

While looking down, his blurred vision noticed a red-and-black pin. A discarded Red Skull Pin, he realized.

He crunched it under his heel, grinding it into the ground. He felt a hint of satisfaction in that small deed.

If nothing else, he could _break _things.

IIIIII

"Yo, where's Shiki at?" asked Beat, as he slurped down more curry at Ramen Don.

"Holed up in her room, sketching out design ideas nonstop," Neku replied, drawing on the counter with a pen. "Which means I don't get to see her much."

"That sucks."

"I guess."

"You guess? Ain't you two going out?"

"Not officially, no," Neku replied, blue eyes on the doodle instead of Beat. "And I've been swarmed by songs and art ideas myself, so it gives us both time to sort things out."

"Oh. Uh, makes sense."

Mr. Doi walked up.

"Ramen's ready!" he announced, before noticing Neku's sketching. "Hey, stop that! I just cleaned that counter!"

"Stop what?" asked Neku, before registering the drawings. "…Oh. Oops."

"Dude, you didn't notice that until now?" questioned Beat.

"…Apparently not."

"But you've been looking right at it!" stated the muscular teen. "Man, you've been out of it today Neku."

Just then Uzuki walked in, unusually quiet.

"Yo Pinky!" Beat greeted.

Neku simply waved distractedly.

"My name's not Pinky," Uzuki growled. "It's Uzuki."

"What difference do it make?"

"A lot."

"Say, where's Lollipop at?" asked Beat. "Usually you two are together all the time."

"_Kariya_," she spoke with emphasis. "Is…not feeling well."

"Not feeling well?" asked Neku. "How does a Reaper get sick? You guys are already dead."

"Yeah," Beat echoed. "Only thing I've heard of…crap, it ain't consumption, is it?!"

"Consumption?"

"…You know about consumption?" Uzuki asked warily.

"Ah, just find out about that, Uzuki?" Mr. Doi replied with a smirk. "Shoyu or Miso tonight?"

"Miso," she answered. "…And I've known about it for awhile, it's just…awkward."

"What _is _consumption?" asked Neku.

"Dude, it's when a Reaper goes nuts and tries to eat other Reapers!" Beat exclaimed.

"…_Eat _them?" Neku replied, turning to Uzuki. "…You guys cannibals too?"

"Well, _eating_ isn't really the right word…" said the pink-haired Reaper. "How do you know about consumption anyway, Skulls?"

"Yo, I was a Reaper too, ya know," Beat answered. "Porcupine told me about it."

"Porcupine? Oh, 777. There was a good Reaper. Old friend of Kariya's."

"Yeah…"

Mr. Doi sighed and turned to Neku, who still appeared confused.

"More accurately, consumption is when a Reaper, through physical or emotional stress, is overcome by their inner Noise," he explained as he waited for the curry to finish cooking. "The Reaper has to consume another Reaper, or be consumed by the Noise itself. It's the key to Reaper evolution, and therefore an necessary evil of Reaper society."

"But that ain't fair man!" Beat protested, slamming his fist down on the counter. "What kinda screwed-up system makes you eat your own friends?!"

"Go ask the Composer," said Neku. "It's his system."

"I don't even wanna _see _that guy's face!"

"…Whatever. I don't wanna see his face either. Just a suggestion," Neku answered passively, as he began to tap on the counter and hum a tune.

"But don't it make you _mad_, Neku?" asked the exasperated blonde. "Don't you wanna _change _it?"

Neku paused.

"…Yeah," the orange-haired teen answered, his expression still sleepy but his tone different. "Shiki was saying the same thing the other day. Things need to change."

He turned to Beat, a cool smirk in place.

"Let's change the world."

Beat was ready to wholeheartedly agree, ready to raise the steaming bowl of curry just placed before him to those words, but something stopped him. It was something about Neku's eyes.

"Well before you start a world revolution," said Mr. Doi, standing in front of Neku. "_Stop drawing on my counter!_"

IIIIII

Beat remembered his Reaper days. He didn't really like those Reaper days.

It wasn't the Reapers. Well, actually it was kinda the Reapers. Most of them heckled him, since he was the new guy, the "Freshmeat". That made him really mad, actually. But now that he knew that all new jobs were like that, at least any job he could get into, it didn't seem so bad now. Besides, he knew them now, they were his friends…sorta…well, at least he understood them better after the Red Skull pin incident.

Anyway, 777 and his friends had been there for him. Known as his favorite band Def March in the RG, not only did he get to meet them, but they backed him up and showed him the ropes of Reaperhood. 777 even understood about Rhyme. If only he hadn't been erased…

So the Reapers he could have gotten used to. Erasing Players to survive off their Soul was something else. He never could being himself to erase one, which almost caused him to fade away later…but he didn't get erased, even past his time limit, and that's what counted. He didn't think about why he survived…didn't want to think about it.

Consumption was another part of Reaperhood he wanted no part of. 777 hadn't told him exactly…he found out about it when he stumbled upon a part-Noise 777. He was lucky that the other Reaper had regained control, or he would have been consumed. It had been scary as hell, seeing "Porcupine" with actual red-and-yellow quills jutting out of his arms and back - red and black is a friend of Jack, red and yellow could kill a fellow – a yellow light shining in the pupils of his eyes – like an animal, an animal in darkness – a hungry grin on his face – mad, _demonic_, the demon that you thought was your friend –

No, he didn't want to go through that again. He didn't want to put anyone else through that.

But even more than that – well really it was related – but even more than consumption, what scared Beat the most during Reaperhood was his shadow. Because that _thing _wasn't his shadow – It was his Noise, personified in his shadow, a dark _thing _modeled to look like him, but was not him. It was _never _him! Since the time it stirred when he got his wings, it was _never _part of him!

The first time he made a pact with his shadow, he watched in amazement as the flat thing rose off the ground and became a three-dimension _thing_, just like him except dark. It stared at him, apparently just as amazed, red pinpoints of light burning where the eyes should have been.

Then it _sneered _at him, as if _he_ was the shadow instead of _it_. As if it would love tearing his world apart while he watched. As if it would love to devour his friends, his parents, his sister…

He jumped back and immediately deactivated the pact. The _thing _melted back into a flat pool of regular shade.

"Don't like it?" Kariya had asked, laughing at his reaction. "Yeah, I don't care much for mine either." And then he walked away.

He didn't realize it until later, but the other's shadow had been shaped like a fox.

…But yeah, he didn't like his shadow after that. He _still _didn't like it, even though he was no longer a Reaper. And Neku always wondered why he was jumping at his own shadow during the third week of the Game. He never did figure it out, though. How could he know? He'd never been a Reaper.

It was just as well he didn't know. No one could know.

…He was glad he wasn't a Reaper anymore.

IIIIII

"She _rejected _it!" Beat heard Shiki shriek behind him. "How could she reject my designs?! They were _perfect_!"

Beat kept his gaze on the blackboard ahead. The formulas didn't make any more sense than they did five minutes ago, but at least he was _trying_. That was more than could be said of most of the other students, which included Neku and Shiki behind him. That was strange really, since they were usually pretty studious. For that matter, where was their teacher? Class should have started twenty minutes ago…make that twenty-one minutes ago…

"Teachers are stupid," Neku replied, his voice bored rather than shrill. "They think that they know it all, but they don't. Especially those art teachers. They can't accept change in a system that's always changing."

"I know!" Shiki agreed. "Shibuya's trends are always evolving! One week Natural Puppy's popular, and the next it's Hip Snake. It's the natural state of Shibuya to experiment!"

Beat looked down at his desk as his friends continued their artistic rant behind him. Like most other desks, it was covered in graffiti and writing. This desk bore a sketch of a raven, its beak open and its eyes red. Just outside its gaping mouth were streams of stylized fire curling upon themselves and the raven.

"_Free! Free! Must be free! The free will be! Quintessence will come on red wings!" _rambled the words above the raven and fire, written in black ink.

_How do people come up with this crap? _wondered Beat.

He hoped Rhyme was learning in her classes. He sure wasn't.

22 minutes. The teacher _still_ wasn't here yet.

IIIIII

Beat flopped face-first onto his bed. He had been arguing with his parents again.

It wasn't his fault that Rhyme's grades were bad now. He wasn't the one who had stolen her passion. But how the hell was he supposed to explain _that_ to his parents? Uh, Mom, Dad, you see, when you die, there's this Game…

…But maybe it _was_ all his fault. If he hadn't gotten the both of them killed and involved in the Game in the first place…if he had treated her better beforehand…If he had just tried harder at life…

He buried his head in the pillows.

His back hurt. His head hurt. His heart hurt.

IIIIII

"The usual, huh?" asked Mr. Doi. "So where's everyone else at?"

"All they wanna do is work on artsy stuff," Beat answered, plopping down in his usual seat. "And Rhyme's still grounded."

"I see…Sorry to hear that."

"Whatever. It don't bug me. I'm jus' hungry for some curry."

"You sure sound bugged to me."

Beat jumped and turned to Uzuki, who was sitting a couple seats away. The two seats where Neku and Shiki normally sat. Where they should have been sitting now.

"Well, I ain't!" Beat retorted. "…Much. So where's Lollipop at? He still got consumption?"

Uzuki sighed.

"Yeah…"

"Yo, you sound depressed."

Uzuki slurped up some more noodles, her bowl of ramen half-depleted.

"It's just…frustrating," she began. "I know he's avoiding me to protect me, but…well, I can't help him if he's always running off. We're partners! We're supposed to help each other out! And…he can't run from it forever. He might fight it off again, but one day he won't be able to. I think he's starting to realize that, and it's scaring him real bad."

She stirred her ramen restlessly.

"Of course I don't want to consumed either," the violet-eyed Reaper went on. "Though it's all or nothing in the end…somebody's gotta consume or be consumed…I guess I'm just being selfish…"

"I understand whatchu saying though," Beat answered. "Consumption's scary, man."

"That it is," she agreed. "…But why am I even telling you this, Skulls? I hardly even know you."

"I dunno, man. I ain't you."

Uzuki smirked.

"Maybe that's why."

"Wha?" asked Beat, but then the strong blonde was presented his curry, and his body and mind became wholly devoted to his food.

IIIIII

He'd been having weird dreams lately. He hadn't told anybody. He hadn't even told Rhyme.

Well, it wasn't like there was a whole lot to tell. He would be in the middle of darkness when suddenly a whole bunch of colors would start spinning around him. The psychedelic cyclone of hues was quite pretty, actually, and it wasn't doing anything to him, not even ruffling his loose clothes. But it unnerved him all the same. Why it unnerved him, he didn't have a clue.

…Well, maybe he did. Sometimes the colors briefly formed into Noise-like creatures before dissolving back into the clashing colors.

IIIIII

"Actually, the Noise are at an all-time low," Uzuki informed him, as she finished up her second bowl of ramen. "Been dropping since the fake O-Pin incident."

"You mean them Red Skull pins?" asked Beat, before diving into his third bowl of curry.

"Same thing," Uzuki replied. "…And will you please not talk with your mouth full? That's disgusting."

"Actually, they're not fakes," Mr. Doi corrected, as he set a new bowl of ramen in front of Uzuki. "They're O-Pins rigged with imprinting, but they _are _genuine O-Pins."

"They are?" asked Uzuki, warming her hands over the ramen as she waited for it to cool. "How do you know?"

"I analyzed one of them myself," Mr. Doi answered, wiping the counter with a damp rag. "Wanted to see how it worked. I figured that they were real though, considering how many Reapers start to evolve afterward."

"Like Kariya," said Uzuki. "Good point."

"How's Lollipop anyway?" asked Beat, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Better," Uzuki replied. "Still doesn't want to get close to me, but he sounds more relaxed when he calls. Says he's actually feeling bored."

"What, no Games?"

"No, there have been Games, but they've only lasted a couple days each," she answered. "Stupid Players can't use their Player Pins right. Can't scan or imprint to save their lives, literally."

"Damn. Even _I _could do that."

"I know. It's embarrassing really, for the newer Players to be outdone by a meathead like you."

"Hell yeah! Take that, noobs!"

"…That wasn't a compliment, you know."

"Wha?!"

IIIIII

Beat was hurrying to work (Crap, he was late! _Crap_!) when he noticed two Reapers standing around Kariya, who was sitting on the ground and holding his head.

"Hey, you okay?" asked one of the Reapers.

Kariya chuckled darkly.

"Damn, _it_ tried to take over while I was in the RG," said the russet-eyed Reaper. "Didn't know _it_ could do that. Well, now I know."

"Damn, that's scary."

"Yeah," replied Kariya. "My RG body couldn't take the power and got fried. If I wasn't already dead, I'd be…well, dead. Seems to have knocked _it_ out for a while at least, though."

The conversation fell out of earshot. He didn't have time to stop. But that didn't sound good for Kariya. Or Uzuki.

IIIIII

His school wasn't an education center anymore. It was an artistic sacrifice.

Graffiti was everywhere. It was on the walls, on the floors, on the ceilings. On the windows, on the desks, on the books. On the mirrors, on the stalls, on the _toilets_. Hell, there was graffiti on graffiti on graffiti.

And the teachers? Well, a lot of the graffiti was _theirs_. Not that the adults were getting along any better with the equally vandalizing students. If anything, they fought with them more, considering the school _their _territory. The kids still came, not to learn, but to compete.

Actually, everyone was competing, fighting, everywhere. Everyone seemed to think their stuff, and only their stuff, was the best, and no one gave way. Even Neku and Shiki fought over whose designs were best. Everyone was so _angry_.

Beat didn't know why he came to school at this point. None of the teachers were interested in teaching, just surpassing. Maybe it was to see what new forms of art had emerged since the other day. Or maybe he was trying to set a good example for Rhyme. Though from what he'd heard from her, things weren't much better at her school either.

He was just trying to find his classroom – it was hard when the surroundings just kept _changing _– when he noticed the wolf.

It was huge, stretching across the wall of the hallway, its scarlet fur wild and flaming. Its black eyes gaped ravenously at Beat, its open maw and serpentine tongue just as eager to devour him.

And there, misting the creature with a spray can, was Neku, humming some alluring tune to himself, as he always did nowadays. He turned to Beat, a red smear across his cheek, his blue gaze distant.

Beat felt a chill when their eyes locked. Why was that? It was just Neku.

"Uh…yo," Beat greeted uneasily.

"…Hey," the distant-eyed teen answered, before turning back to his red work. He began to hum again as he used his hands to feather out the fur.

"So…whatchu doing?" asked Beat, even though he already knew. Neku was so hard to have a conversation with these days. It was almost as bad as when they had first met during the Game.

"What does it look like?" the red-stained teen asked crossly, not stopping his work. "I'm showing these idiots here what art _really_ is."

He continued on with his humming, shaking the spray can.

"…Well, later Neku," Beat finished lately, walking away.

Neku didn't even answer, spraying on another layer of paint.

IIIIII

"It's like everybody's goin' crazy, man!" Beat exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air and nearly knocking over his bowl of curry. "I mean-"

"Maybe you're the one going nuts. Ever think of that?" Uzuki asked with a smirk, her ramen finished long ago. "…By the way, what are you drawing?"

"Wha?" asked Beat, looking down at the counter.

There were ragged zigzags everywhere, all in black. Crude lightning-bolts maybe? He couldn't tell. At the center was the rough, very rough, sketch of a…thing? What was that, a gorilla? Or maybe a bear…yeah, it was definitely a bear…well maybe not definitely…but his gut told him it was a bear. So it was bear…probably. A bear roaring.

When had he drawn this? He didn't remember bringing out a pen…He wasn't even aware that he _had _a pen with him.

He glanced at his right hand…_and it was still drawing_. It was in the middle of sketching a floating wolf head, teeth bared. Above it was a hissing cat head. They were opposing the bear. Or the bear was opposing them. How was he supposed to tell?

He grabbed his arm and yanked it off the table, staring at it like it was possessed. Maybe it _was _possessed. That stuff on the table…he didn't understand any of it. He didn't even know he was _drawing_ it until Uzuki pointed it out…

The said pink-haired Reaper stared at him for a few moments, and then peered at the wild drawings.

"…Freaky," She finally spoke, pulling back. "Everybody's drawing such freaky stuff lately. Normally I'd blame the Noise, but there's hardly any Noise at all in Shibuya…It's weird…"

Beat stared at the crazed doodle. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

Hastily he smeared the drawing with his arm, staining his skin black with the ink.

IIIIII

He woke up out of breath, his heart hammering. Why was his heart hammering? Why was he out of breath?

He stayed curled up under the covers, waiting for the phase to pass. This was the third time it had happened. Where were these attacks coming from? Those strange dreams weren't _that _scary…were they?

The pounding of his heart lessened, and his head began to pound instead. His back was stiff and sore.

He groaned and pulled the covers back over his head, not wanting to know what time it was. He had to go to work later.

IIIIII

"Wha?! Whatchu mean there's no curry?!"

"Exactly what I said. There's no curry," answered Mr. Doi dryly. His kitchen was a mess, which was unusual for him.

"Man, I was really looking forward to that curry," Beat whined, slumping forward. "Work makes me hungry."

"Well if you hurry you might still be able to catch something to eat," said Mr. Doi, looking disgruntled. "The dolls that ran off with my ingredients might still be nearby."

"Wha? Dolls? Whatchu talkin' about?" asked Beat, staring at the ramen chef.

"You know, rag-dolls and mannequins and such," Mr. Doi replied. "They came and ransacked the place. It was all I could do to drive them out."

He sighed.

"This kind of crap isn't supposed to happen in the RG…"

"I'll go get it back, yo!" Beat declared. "Them dolls ain't gonna get away with this!"

"I thought you might say that," Mr. Doi answered with a smile. "You get those dolls. I'll be here to make sure nothing else breaks in. They'll have to answer to my frying pan if they do."

"Gotcha!" the teen replied, rushing out the door. "Cya!"

Then he rushed back in.

"Hey, wait a sec! How do you know about the Reapers and the RG and UG and stuff anyway?! You're just a ramen and curry guy!"

"This 'ramen and curry guy' was a Player once."

"Seriously?! How long back?"

"Oh, about three years back," said Mr. Doi. "Not everyone worthy of the Game is a youngster, you know."

"And you won?!"

"I'm alive again, aren't I?"

"Dude, that's just…" Beat began. "That's just awesome man!"

"You gonna go catch your curry or what?"

"Oh yeah! Be right back yo!"

IIIIII

Beat had more than dolls to worry about.

It was like he had stepped into one of those old cartoons, the ones where the car argued with the stoplight while the lamppost tried to stop the squabble. Because everything around him was _alive_, actually _alive_ and talking.

Supposedly innocent stopsigns would suddenly uproot themselves and try to whack him, chasing him into the next street. Skates and shoes darted about, while clothes floated around without wearers. He recognized some of the clothes being of Shiki's design, and suddenly worried about his skateboard. And Shiki. She must be running around in this chaos trying to get her stuff back…

The bedlam extended from the fringes of Dogenzaka, to the full of A-East, to the wide area before of the Shibukyu Main Store, where he was now. Said animated objects were harassing citizen and Reaper alike, who either fled, fought back, or, like him, were in pursuit of a certain target.

_What the hell, man? Prissy boy must be having a tantrum or something. I mean, he likes possessing stuff and attacking people with it, right?_

"Yo, what's happening?!" Beat yelled to a passing Reaper trying to catch a flying table.

"Hell if I know!" the Reaper answered, he and the flying table soon out of sight.

"Well that don't help much…" muttered the blonde, before noticing a pack of dolls and mannequins walking with a variety of food items…including curry ingredients.

"Hey!" he shouted, running toward the pack of dolls. "Give back tha' food!"

The dolls jumped and began to scurry away.

"_Hey_!" he hollered, chasing the dolls around the corner. "Get back he-"

Something quick and black hit him in the face, knocking him backward.

"_Ow_! Mother-"

He stared.

Floating in front of him was Shiki's favorite toy, Mr. Mew. The black cat toy was cloaked in a flaming purple aura.

"Wha…?" said Beat, getting back on his feet and looking around. Was Shiki here? Then again, Mr. Mew might have been berserk like everything else was. He didn't like the look of that aura. He hadn't seen that kind of aura around the black cat toy since-

"Yo, Shiki!" Beat called out, keeping a wary eye on the animated plaything. "Shiki, you here? Your stuffed cat jus' walloped me! Tell 'im to attack the other possessed stuff, not me!"

There was no reply. Beat looked around.

There were no other animated objects, besides Mr. Mew. There were no people, not even Reapers. The whole place was silent and empty. This place was _never _silent and empty.

Then the hairs stood up on his back of Beat's neck, and a chill slithered down his spine. It wasn't because he was alone. It was because he _wasn't_ alone.

Something was behind him. Or someone. Some_thing_ or some_one_ was behind him, and it wasn't friendly. At all.

But worst of all…

"Yo…" he breathed, his head turning apprehensively.

…He _knew _this presence.

"…Shiki?"

He was yanked off his feet as something long and sharp wrapped around his ankle. He found himself hanging upside down, blood rushing to his head, the chain around his neck hitting the ground loudly, while he stared into the eyes of his assailant.

It was Shiki…and not Shiki. Dark purple tattoos had transfigured into claws, and long cat ears floated just above her head. Behind her were two tattoo tails, made up of sharp fragments rather than a continuous line. It was one of these tails that had coiled around Beat's ankle, its razor edge biting into his skin. Hot trickles of blood seeped from his ankle and rolled down his leg.

But it was her eyes that scared Beat. The whites were black, with yellow pinpricks of light burning in the center of her pupils. Those eyes were merciless.

They were Noise eyes.

"S-Shiki. D-Don't you-"

She raised one hand and slowly traced a finger across Beat's cheek. The touch was slight, but the razor-like claws still left a thin scratch.

"Y-Yo…" Beat spoke, as she repeatedly and deliberately ran her claw across his cheek, leaving a new cut each time. "Whatchu…Whatchu doin'…?"

She paused, and, apparently unsatisfied, flung him into a nearby wall.

Beat watched her approach as he back onto his feet, the process hindered by his injured ankle. She paused and rubbed her cheek against docile lamppost, a feline behavior. Immediately the lamppost took on a character of its own, rocking back and forth as it sang.

_Ah hell, she's the one that's-_

Beat felt something ram into his side, nearly toppling over. He saw Mr. Mew out of the corner of his eye, looping around for another strike.

_Shit!_

He ran, despite the hot pain in his leg. He had no other choice.

IIIIII

Beat didn't remember how he got to the alley. He didn't remember how he escaped her or all of her possessed objects. He just had. That's all that mattered, right?

His back hurt. His head hurt. His heart hurt. His heart _really _hurt.

Either way, he was leaning against the wet alley wall (wet with paint, probably…there wasn't a building in Shibuya without graffiti now), staring at the writing on the alley wall across from him, his bleeding ankle bandaged by his oversized black cap. It felt so strange, having it tied around his ankle and not sitting on his head, having it become hot and damp with red blood. Well, blood washed out, right?

He kept his stare on the writing on the wall before him, as he unconsciously wiped his cheek and found more hot scarlet. Crap, he hadn't done anything about those cuts yet.

"_When you lose faith in the wonder and beauty of the world," _said the writing on the wall, placed below a circle of flaming red ravens. _"You die. Your heart will die, being lost."_

He stared and stared at those words, as his mind spun, as his cuts bled.

That…that wasn't Shiki back there. It couldn't be Shiki. It couldn't be Shiki in any way. The Shiki he knew was cheerful. The Shiki he knew was kind. The Shiki he knew was _human_. That wasn't Shiki. That was a monster. That was a _demon. _The Shiki he knew wasn't a demon – The Shiki he knew – The Shiki he –

Neku. He had to find Neku.

Neku could fix this. Neku could fix her. Neku could fix everything. Neku had saved Shibuya before, and he could save it again. Neku –

"Whoa. What the hell happened to you?"

Beat snapped back to reality to see Uzuki standing at the mouth of the alley, her figure a silhouette.

"Didn't recognize you without the hat at first," the pink-haired Reaper continued, walking over to him and becoming more than a shadow. "…This is the first time I've seen you without your hat, actually. You've got a lot of hair. I thought that maybe you had premature baldness or something."

"Yeah, it's jus' frizzy and crap," Beat replied, running his hand through his hair. "…But damn man. It ain't just me. Everythin' really _is_ goin' nuts."

"Care to explain?"

"…I dunno if I can explain much of anythin', but…"

IIIIII

Neku's apartment blared with ethereal music. Where were his parents? Who knew. They never were very attentive. Beat had never seen them, actually, and Neku never mentioned them. Sometimes he wondered if Neku even _had _parents.

Beat and Uzuki walked down the hall of violently clashing art and graffiti, the area suspiciously empty of anything besides the deafening melody. Had the song driven them out?

"If the kid knows, he's in denial. _Loud _denial," Uzuki yelled over the music. "But how'd she hurt you anyway? I mean, you're in the RG. If she's part Noise, she's either in the UG or in the Noise dimension. Either way she shouldn't be able to touch you, much less hurt you."

"Well she did!" Beat shouted back. "I don't get how she did it either, but she did!"

Beat rubbed his forehead as his head starting hurting again, probably from the earsplitting volume of the song. Probably.

"…I see why Skulls Jr. was worried."

"What about Rhyme?"

"She asked me to find you earlier," said Uzuki.

"Wha? Why?…And why you?"

"I dunno. First person she came across, I guess," Uzuki replied. "Anyway, she said that she thought you were sick, and that she'd buy me ramen later if I found you and kept an eye on you."

"Really, yo? Didn't know she was so worried," asked Beat, unconsciously rubbing his back. "But I ain't sick. I mean, day's been rough, but I ain't sick…"

They stopped in front of Neku's door. It was smeared with black and red paint styled like fire, a wild design that spread past the door itself. Behind them was a large window, painted yellow and purple.

"_Yo_!" yelled Beat, banging on the door with his fist. "Yo, open up Neku! _Yo_!"

If Neku heard, he didn't answer.

"_Hey_! Something's wrong with Shiki, man! We need help!"

There was still no answer. If anything, the music got louder.

"Ah screw it!" hollered Beat, backing up. "If he ain't comin' out, I'm goin' in!"

"Wait a minute, what are you-"

He let out a yell and charged forward, ramming into the door. It gave way with surprisingly little resistance, and Beat found himself sprawled out over the floor of Neku's apartment.

"Oww…" groaned the blonde.

"You know, I could have just generated a chump Noise on the other side and open it that way…" mentioned Uzuki. "…Damn, what are you made of, Skulls? The door's practically smashed…Whoa, speaking of freakiness…"

Beat looked up.

The place was a chaos zone. The carpet was blotted and stained with paint and ink, as were the walls and even the ceiling. Music notes were taped and tacked everywhere, with doodles or ramblings starting at the corners of the paper and overflowing onto the walls.

The music was everywhere…and then it stopped. There were footsteps.

Neku emerged.

His orange hair was a mess, but that was normal. The paint discoloring his clothes, the interconnected ink-made swirls on his skin, the ink-made thunderbolts just below his eyes, his faraway, _angry_ gaze…that wasn't normal. That wasn't normal at all.

Neku's eyes narrowed. Beat felt a chill slide down his back.

"What do you want?" the other asked coldly, distantly.

"Neku!" Beat shouted, getting back on his feet. "We need help, man! You gotta listen to me!"

"Uh, Skulls…" Uzuki began. "…I don't think he's gonna listen…"

The slender teen continued to leer at him, and began to sway subtly from side to side.

"You're the sea. It is yours. I'm the sky. It is mine," he began to chant. "Do not take us as the same."

"Wha?" Beat asked, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. "Whatchu talkin' about man?"

"You are you. I am me. Don't pretend that it's otherwise."

"You ain't makin' no sense, yo! You hit your head or somethin'?" asked Beat, trying to ignore the pit opening in his stomach. "…Seriously, yo, cut it out. You're creepin' me out."

"…Let's go," suggested Uzuki, appearing more and more uneasy. "…Maybe he'll be more…sociable later…"

"Neku!" Beat called out. "Neku, what's wrong yo?!"

A scarlet pinpoint of light sparked in Neku's pupils.

"I don't expect you to understand," he stated, as the whites of his eyes turned black.

The black ink on Neku's skin abruptly turned red and began to reform into tattoo lines. Soon his limbs began to be morphed from a human's to a wolf's. A bushy, sharp-edge tail appeared behind him, swishing back and forth.

"Shit! He's turning Noise!" Uzuki yelled. "Skulls, we're outta here!"

Beat stared, frozen to the spot.

_No…No No NO! This can't be! CAN'T be!_ _No no –_

"_Skulls_!"

Beat didn't even see him move. The next thing he knew, he was outside, shards of glass around him, probably _in _him too. Neku was above him, Uzuki beside him, and the ground so far, _far_ below him.

"Crap!" Uzuki shouted. "We need to pact!"

"Pact? _Now_?"

"_Of course now_! You wanna die?!"

There was a flash of blue light that enveloped both human and Reaper. Beat felt his Soul's power surge and flow through him, including the power to defy, _break_ gravity's influence over him.

Using his skateboard as the medium, Beat forced the breaking power down toward the ground. The power connected, and abruptly his fall slowed to a feather's ease. Uzuki was also affected, though she had already lessened her plummet's force with the weaker anti-gravity ability of her wings.

Neku shot past them, landed with no injury whatsoever, and watched them crossly.

"Whoa**,"** Uzuki said, placing her hand on her chest. "…Feels weird as hell having a heartbeat."

"Wha, you alive again?!"Beat exclaimed.

"Huh?" Uzuki replied, giving him a confused stare. "…It's _your_ heartbeat I'm feeling, stupid."

"…Oh."

Neku leaped toward them, a black static appearing behind him. Beat felt his skin go numb, a familiar feeling.

"Yo man, we in trouble," he said, as he felt himself and Uzuki being pulled into the Noise dimension.

"No kidding," replied Uzuki, as she and Beat suddenly vanished.

IIIIII

Nothing appeared different as Beat materialized in the top part of the Noise dimension. Or was it the bottom part of the Noise dimension? Uzuki usually appeared in the top part, and they couldn't _both _be here…

_**Ugh, I **__**hate**__** being in the bottom dimension! **_he heard her complain in his mind.

Well that answered his question.

Suddenly Neku appeared before him, black static sizzling behind him. The orange-haired teen was hunched over slightly, red tattoo claws forward, tail whipping behind him, scarlet sparks burning in his eyes.

_Yo, Neku's up here right now, so-_

_**What? But he's down here!**_

_Wha?_ Beat asked, as he blocked a flurry of Neku's slashes using his skateboard. _You mean his shadow?_

_**Ow!**_

Beat felt a sharp pain in his arm, Uzuki's pain from being cut.

_**No, **__**him**__**!**_

Beat jumped back, mounted his skateboard, and struck Neku from the air. The half-Noise was sent flying, but recovered in mid-air and landed soundly. He snarled.

_But he's up here! How can he be down there?!_

Neku began to dash back and forth, becoming a vicious, growling blur.

_**Crap. He must be able to split himself like a Noise. This is worse than I thought.**_

Beat cried out as the speeding half-Noise slashed him again and again with each pass. Just what he needed, more bleeding cuts to bandage. Neku finally came to a screeching halt, his body down on all fours and snarling.

_But that means that we can hit 'im from both sides, right? That'll wear 'im down faster._

Beat charged forward on his skateboard, but Neku leapt over him to attack his flank. He swiftly blocked the slash with his skateboard.

_**Yeah, but that means that he's really advanced into the Noise state. Splitting is usually one of the last things to happen before someone goes full-blast Noise. That's bad, Skulls.**_

Neku rammed into Beat, which knocked the blonde backward. The slender teen dashed in for a slash, but Beat evaded and struck Neku with his skateboard.

_Hell…gotta get through to him…_

"Neku!" he called out. "Snap out of it, yo! You don't wanna be a Noise, do you?!"

All he got for an answer was a summoned stream of fire. Beat hastily jumped away from the flames.

_**Less talking, more fighting!…Damn, I know my aim ain't **__**that**__** bad!**_

Neku had gone on another dashing rampage, and all Beat could do was block.

_I don't wanna erase him! _

_**And I don't want to be erased!…Dammit, why can't I hit him?! You getting any hits in?**_

_Only a couple, yo._

_**Be serious here, Skulls. You can't hold back! Yow! Dammit! He **__**bit**__** me!**_

_I ain't holdin' back, yo! Neku keeps dashin' everywhere! Makes him really damn hard to hit!_

_**So I've noticed. I gotta – Ah shit! Take **__**that**__**!**_

Beat feltconfusion and panic flow up to him, and then a sharp pain in his chest and side.

_You alright?!_

…_**Shit, I really **__**can't**__** hit him! All my attacks passing **__**through**__** him!**_

_Wha?!_

Neku storm of rushes had finally passed, and Beat took the opportunity to hit Neku with a string of hits. The half-Noise retaliated with a slash across Beat's chest.

_I'm hittin' him. Why can't you?_

_**I don't know! Unless…oh hell…**_

Beat dodged another stream of fire.

_Unless what, Pinky? Spill it!_

_**He attacked you earlier…the window smashed…hell Skulls, he's still in the RG!**_

Beat leapt over Neku's dash attack, only to be struck by a lightning bolt while mid-air.

_YOW!_

_**You said it.**_

Beat landed somewhat awkwardly, and immediately had to block Neku's slashes.

_But ain't that impossible?!_

_**Well, it would explain why I can't hit him. People in the UG can't touch the RG. Shiki must be in the RG too, if she hurt you earlier…hey wait sec, if **__**you**__** can hit Neku, then **__**you**__** must be in the RG too! **_

…_Now that you mention it, I'm bleedin'. _

_**What?!**_

_I don't usually bleed here. I jus' get all static-y and stuff. _

_**Hell, we can't fight like this! **__**I**__** can't hit him and **__**you're**__** somehow still attuned to the RG! We're pulling out Skulls!**_

Neku charged into Beat, knocking him into a nearby wall.

_But Neku-_

_**No buts, Skulls! I'm not getting erased for your sake, and **__**you're**__** not getting erased on my watch! We're outta here!**_

Beat felt himself getting yanked out of the Noise dimension. Neku was still leering at him.

IIIIII

They ran. They ran and ran and ran. But for all that running, it would make no difference against Neku, not with his newfound phenomenal speed. Luckily for Beat and Uzuki, Neku had no interest in pursuing them. In fact, he went the other way.

"Where's he going?" asked Beat, trailing behind Uzuki on his power-enhanced skateboard. They couldn't afford to turn their pact off in case they came across Neku again, or Shiki.

"Who cares! At least he's not following us!" replied Uzuki, gliding ahead at full speed. "We gotta find Kariya. He'll know what to do. I just wish he would leave his cell phone on for once…"

Beat barely registered what she said, as it all began to sink into his mind, his heart. The whole world was a too-colorful, too-bright blur as he skated by all the stores and buildings, all the stores and buildings buried under graffiti, graffiti, graffiti.

"-probably should find a hospital-"

He shut his eyes tight.

The colors, the colors, he _hated _the colors! All the blues, the greens, the reds – he _especially _hated the reds – the purples, the oranges, the pinks, the yellows, the browns, the grays –all of it! All he wanted was the blacks and the whites, perfectly clean and divided and _understandable_ – like his cap. His perfect black cap with a white skull sewed on the front of it, perfect and simple – Only now it wasn't perfect and simple anymore, because it was stained with _red_, hated red. _His _red – which was coming out everywhere and staining everything – ruining everything! He _hated _red!

His back hurt. His back always hurt. Just like his head always hurt, and his heart always hurt. Why did it always have to hurt? What did he do, to hurt so much? It wasn't right! None of this was right! The art, the people, the Noise – monsters – _demons_ – none of it was right at all! Wasn't everything supposed to be _fixed _after the Game?!

His heart rammed against his chest, as if desperate to get out. _Ba-Bump Ba-Bump Ba-Bump! _He could hardly catch his breath.

Why…_Why_?! Why was everything falling apart?! It was supposed to be _perfect! _Fixed! He had already gone through the ultimate nightmare of the Game! _That _was supposed to be the worst experience he would ever have! Everyone else, compared to _that_, was supposed to be easy, bearable, _understandable_ – not like this! Not like _this_!

"-you alright, Skulls?-"

Shiki, Neku – his _friends_ – they weren't supposed to be monsters, _demons_! They weren't like those Reapers in the room with the fishes, who just _looked _human, instead of _being _human…Were they? No no NO! It couldn't be! CAN'T be! No no NO! They were _perfect! _PERFECT! He was nothing, but they were PERFECT!

"_Now, what do you think that means, hmm? What does that say about you?"_

…Damn if he knew! He didn't know _anything! _Rhyme…he hadn't been able to do anything for her! Hadn't been able to do anything but watch her turn into a shadow! As if he was nothing but a shadow himself! But he wasn't a shadow! There! _There _was his shadow, on the ground, gliding ahead of him and his skateboard! As if it had any right to be in front of him! Damn _shadow!_

Shibuya itself – _when you lost faith _– Shibuya itself was – _when you lose faith –_

Shibuya itself was mad, _a mad demon! _No, _the_ _whole world _was a demon, a mad, mad, _heartless _demon! So everything else in it was a demon, because the _world_ was a demon! _He_-

He screamed.

"-Skulls?! Skulls, what's-"

_It hurt! _Everything hurt! His heart, his head, his ba-

Something tore from his back. He saw it for just a moment – wings. Reaper wings.

_BA-BUMP BA-BUMP BA-BUMP!_

Power flooded him. Too much power.

_BA-BUMPBA-BUMPBA-BUMP-BA-BUMPBA-BUMP-BA-BUMP-BABUMP-_

It was too much. Too –

_BABUMPBABUMPBABUMPBA-_

_IIIIII_

_So...crazy and chaotic enough for you? XD_

_I'm aware that this chapter sets up everything and explains almost nothing, and has the most evil cliffhanger ever. I apoligize. Things will be better explained in the second chapter._

_Random Notes and Assumptions:_

_I obsess over the strangest details sometimes. You have been warned._

_Have you ever actually watched the fishes in the Dead God's Pad? When you walk around, they follow you. Damn fishes creep me out XD. There's no evidence that they're Noise fish, but that's always been my assumption considering they live in the Composer's hangout area. Why would he have normal fish?_

_There is no evidence that Mr. Doi knows about the UG world, but he seems suspicious to me (particularly, he resists the Red Skull pin, which no one else was able to) Also he was a founder of Tin Pin in Another Day, which may or may not apply to the regular world, but it suggests he would be familar with pins, a key component of the Game. As a somewhat related note, I assume Kariya and Uzuki stop by Ramen Don a lot because...well, they like ramen a lot._

_The Noise-in-shadow thing is my explanation on how Reapers are able to fight with their shadows, since the shadow doesn't mimic the Reaper's movements but does its own thing. _

_I'm running a one-shot contest til October 1st. Go here for details. (fanfiction).net/topic/60575/17000061/1/_

_Oh, cookies to whoever guesses how I'm getting the titles (it's probably pretty obvious)_

_Next chapter (whenever that happens): Detonation in SHIBUYA_

_Cya!_


	2. Scale 2: Detonation in SHIBUYA

_Hi! I know it's been way too long since the initial first chapter, and I apologize. My overworked TWEWY mood went kaput soon after the first chapter, and I got involved in other things/stories...I did mention this was a side project, right? XD I am so easily distracted sometimes. _

_Anyway, the new chapter is finally here! I'm so surprised at how popular this story became even at the first chapter. It has the most reviews and hits for the first chapter in any multi-chapter fic I've ever done. I thank for for it and hope you follow and enjoy the story to the end...not that this is the last chapter. There will be either three or four chapters in total, most likely three with maybe an epilogue. _

_If you like to listen to music while reading, I recommend for this chapter "Survive" by Lacuna Coil. If you need to re-read the first chapter to refresh your memory and want music for that, I recommend "Sell Your Soul" by Hollywood Undead (it fits so well, though ironically I did not hear the song until after I had posted the first chapter...)_

_Also, kudos to The Genius Mage Divine Wolf and James Firebrand for beta'ing this for me!_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own TWEWY. My house is noisy enough without any actual Noise in it.** _

"_Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has ever known." - Amy Lowell_

**Scale 2 - Detonation in SHIBUYA**

"_Hey, hey, look at me!" shouted the young Beat, performing trick after trick on his brand-new skateboard at Miyashita Park. "Look! Look! Heeeey!"_

"_That's nice Daisukenojo," one of his parents commented absently. It didn't matter which one spoke, for both were obviously ignoring him as they read on about a child prodigy in their newspapers. _

"_Hey! You ain't even looking!" Beat whined to the adults._

"_I'm looking!" chirped little Rhyme happily, watching his acrobatic acts in fascination._

"_I know…But they ain't," said the young boy, stopping to glance around. "Nobody else ain't either." He went on with his tricks again, more vigorously now. "Hey, look! Look at me! Heeeey!"_

IIIIII

"…Freaking exploded or something."

"Well, that's not good. What about you? Feeling alright?"

Voices, voices he knew. What were they talking about?

"Alright enough, I guess."

"You guess? I'm being serious here…"

Beat's eyes flickered open to find two familiar Reapers standing over him. One had bright pink hair while the other had orange hair and a lollipop. Uzuki and Kariya. What were they doing here, in the middle of a dirty alley? What was _he_ doing here, for that matter?

"Really, I'm fine. It gave me a jolt, but that's all," Uzuki answered, folding her arms.

"That's all?" Kariya replied, sounding both concerned and cross. "You could have been erased or consumed. Why didn't you cut the connection?"

"…I don't know," Uzuki admitted. "Guess I didn't want…"

"Whatchu guys going on 'bout?" groaned Beat. "Wha happened?"

Both Reapers halted their squabbling to look down at the fallen teenager. Beat sat up and rubbed his head, only to find his hat in the way. His hat? Of course it was his hat. He always wore his hat…except…except…

"Seriously yo, wha happened?" Beat grumbled. "Everythin' feels weird."

"Well…" Uzuki began, before taking a deep breath. "You're dead."

Beat gaped at her.

"I'm _wha_?"

"Deceased. Departed. History. Kaput," stated Kariya boredly, taking Beat's arm and putting fingers over his wrist. "Nope, no pulse. You're dead as last week's fashion."

"_I _could have told you that," growled Uzuki, as Beat stared in shock. "I'm the one who felt his heart freakin' burst."

"Heart…burst?" asked Beat, still in bewilderment. "My heart broke, and I died? But ain't it too young to jus' break…?"

Something slim and black moved in the corner of his eye. No, not just his eye. Something moved on his back too. He turned and saw the wings. Reaper wings. And behind the wings, his shadows twisted strangely on a wall drowned in graffiti….graffiti….

"Oh yeah, congrats on regaining Reaperhood," Kariya added. "How you pulled it off without outright being erased, I have no idea. Least you've kept your sanity better than everyone else around here anyway."

Beat was suddenly deluged with memories that washed away the smog in his mind, and he remembered everything.

"…Hell," Beat muttered, holding his head. "Wha's going on yo? Why am I a Reaper again? I ain't supposed to a be Reaper. Why's everybody goin' nuts and turning Noise?"

"Can't tell you," admitted Kariya, twirling his lollipop and frowning. "Was hoping you had some idea about it, to be honest."

"Why the hell would I know?" snapped Beat, wings flaring out. They were bigger than he remembered.

"Well, they _are_ your friends," Kariya answered. "Have they been acting strange lately?"

"They actin' weird? _Everybody's _been acting weird, yo!" the yellow-haired Reaper yelled back, his shadow slipping before him without his notice. It glared from the ground with red eyes.

"…So I've noticed," said Kariya, watching Beat's shadow rather than Beat himself. "And apparently Neku and Shiki aren't immune to it. If anything, they seem to be sensitive to it. Now why do you think that is?"

"I dunno, man!" Beat shouted back. Something about the very wording ticked him off. "They're tough, yo. Nothin' gets 'em down for long. I mean, they survived the Game. If that don't make someone tough, I don't know what does!"

"And so did you," Kariya reminded calmly. "_You're _still sane though. Why?"

"I dunno, man! I dunno!" Beat hollered, shaking his head. Why was everyone insisting that he knew something he didn't? Why did every little thing make him so _angry_?

"Leave him alone Kariya," Uzuki insisted. "He's already had his heart and mind implode once today. If it happens again he'll be just as nuts as the other brats."

"Hey, I'm just trying to figure things out here," stated Kariya, sticking the lollipop back in his mouth. "You're awfully quick to defend him today."

"I've already screwed up looking after him and keeping him alive, and I don't want things getting even more messed up than they are now," Uzuki grumbled. "What about you? You got any ideas about what's going on?"

"Do you?" Kariya asked.

"No," Uzuki stated flatly, before making a cry of frustration and pulling at her hair. "Nothing makes sense! Both the ex-Player brats are apparently still in the RG even though they've started to turn Noise! I mean, how is that even possible?"

"You noticed that too, huh?" said Kariya. "Not sure what to think of that either. But what even stranger is their lack of Reaper wings."

"Lack of…" Uzuki began. "…Yeah, now that you mention it…"

"The wings are usually the first thing to appear," Kariya went on. "Humans become Reapers, and then Reapers become Noise. But it seems to me that Phones and his girlfriend jumped straight from human to Noise. That's not natural. Even Skulls and his sudden Reaperhood makes more sense, because it's at least in the right order."

"Well, I _was_ a Reaper before," Beat reminded. "But it still don't explain anything else."

"It could be related somehow," countered Kariya, tossing aside the remains of his old pop and unwrapping a new one. "A different reaction to the same thing. What we should really be asking is not why they've turned Noise, but why they didn't go Reaper first."

"Good point," said Uzuki, rubbing her forehead. "They didn't go into consumption either. Otherwise Skulls would have been toast with Cat-girl attacked him. And Wolf-boy would have chased both of us to the ground."

"Well apparently Skulls can hold himself against Phones's girl just fine," remarked Kariya. "Though he'd probably wouldn't do so well against Phones himself."

"Whatchu talkin' about man?" asked Beat with a puzzled blue eyes. "She tore me up bad, yo."

"But you _did_ nail her with that one attack."

"Wha? I didn't attack her! I _ran_ from her!" Beat protested. "I didn't have the power to fight her!"

Kariya studied Beat seriously, which was so uncharacteristic of the laid-back Reaper that it unnerved the blonde.

"…What?" he asked finally.

"You don't remember, do you?" questioned Kariya.

"Don't remember what?"

"Hmm…" Kariya hummed, putting the new pop in his mouth and sucking on it.

The dread within Beat stacked up. What had he done? Why couldn't he remember it? Were there other things that he was forgetting?

Something struck Beat on the back of the head, knocking him out of his thoughts. He stumbled forward, spun around, and witnessed a stuffed black cat zipping back down the alley. At the end of the alley was Shiki, tattoos tails flicking irritably behind her, gaze feral, Beside her was Neku, his gaze just as ferocious.

"Ah hell, this so isn't what we need right now," hissed Uzuki, taking a step back. "We can barely handle Wolf-boy, much less both him and Cat-girl."

"Then we'd better start running," said Kariya, the normally-relaxed Reaper looking tense. "Time to move, Skulls."

"But-" Beat began.

"You plan to fight both of them?" the other male Reaper asked.

"Hell no, I can't-"

"Then you better get your butt in gear!" growled Uzuki, snatching his arm and dragging him along. "If they weren't listening earlier, then they certainly ain't gonna be listening now."

The trio of Reapers fled, the two half-Noise soon in pursuit. Once Beat had the sense to get on his skateboard he was the fastest of the three. It may have seemed a waste with perfectly good wings to fly with, but his skateboard was his medium. By concentrating his Soul into it he could glide much faster than with wings alone.

"Damn, they're just toying with us," snarled Kariya, his expression angry. "Look at 'em. They're not even trying."

"I don't have time to look!" replied Uzuki. "Can't you just give 'em a quick zap or something?"

"Nope, don't have time. Why don't you shoot one?" suggested Kariya.

" 'Cause I got Skulls here to babysit, that's why!"

"You sure are protective of him lately."

"Am not!"

"I don't need no protection!" Beat protested.

They were about to exit A-East when a wall of blue-black flame forced the trio of Reapers to stop. Beat nearly flew straight into it, but was yanked back by Uzuki. They spun around to see Neku and Shiki stalking toward them.

People were all around, and yet they ignored the deadly scene. Beat wanted to scream at them until one passed through him. That's right, they were in UG. How would ordinary people know? They couldn't. There was no way.

"Now Neku, that's not fair," a teasing voice intervened, causing both half-Noise to stop in alarm. "You should let them run for as long as they want."

Joshua materialized in between the two groups, hid arms folded. Beat never thought there would be a time when he was actually _glad_ to see the Composer of Shibuya.

The gray-haired boy glanced back at Beat briefly, before shaking his head and muttering something. Then he turned his attention back to Neku and Shiki, smiling and waving a finger at both of them as if they were naughty toddlers. They both glared back.

"Now I must say that I disapprove of this union," he commented. "Such a pairing will only breed chaos."

Neku and Shiki rushed forward, all anger and no words. Joshua repelled them with a rain of light lasers from the sky.

"Now really, can't we all just get along?" the Composer asked with a shrug and an easy smile, before both half-Noise were blindsided by psych-possessed trash cans. A person paused at the racket of metal crashing. The wall of fire behind the Reapers died away.

"Well, now our chance to scram and regroup," said Kariya, as Joshua evaded Shiki's tail lashes. "I'd say we should take it."

"What about the kid?" asked Uzuki.

"Trust me, he'll be fine. Right Skulls?"

Beat didn't answer as he watched Joshua weave through Neku's slashes and dashes without effort. He wasn't worried about the Composer getting hurt. That guy was practically the god of Shibuya. He was more concerned about his friends. Joshua wasn't afraid to kill, though part of that might have to do with the fact that he could revive anyone he wanted as well.

Joshua smiled cheerfully as he struck Neku with a barrage of white beams of luminosity. Afterward he dropped a bicycle on Shiki, who had tried to attack him from behind. He slammed the incoming Mr. Mew between two trash can lids. Neku gave a madly melodious howl that blasted Joshua back a couple feet, but Joshua quickly recovered, still smiling.

…On the other hand, Beat sort of wished that the Composer would take the fight a little more seriously. If he really was as strong as Neku was always saying, he could have defeated both half-Noise in a matter of seconds. Instead, he seemed to be playing with his opponents, much as a cat does with a mouse.

"You coming Skulls?" called Kariya. "Leave this to pretty boy. We'll get some other Reapers and try to figure out what all of this is about."

Beat paused, began to turn around, and nearly bumped into a stranger right in front of him. Not that he could have actually ran into him, since he was in the UG. Nobody could see them. Nobody…was moving. They were all just standing around, staring in different directions, completely still.

"…Yo, what's with all the people?" asked Beat nervously, as Joshua proceeded to whack Neku with his own stolen headphones and Shiki with Mr. Mew. "It's all quiet."

Uzuki and Kariya scanned the area as well.

"Now that you bring it up…" began Uzuki. "It's kinda like…"

Neku let out another distorted, hypnotizing howl. Joshua shielded himself from the shockwave with a summoned fridge. He was still grinning.

All of the people snapped their heads in Joshua's direction, their stares suddenly wide. Then their expressions slowly became enraged, as yellow lights lit up in their pupils and tattoos snaked all over their bodies.

"_Shit_," both Uzuki and Kariya hissed. Kariya looked downright unwell.

_Hell man, _thought Beat._ Do we hafta fight everybody in Shibuya now? I don't know if even Prissy Boy…shit, Prissy Boy!_

"Look out!" shouted Beat to the preoccupied Composer.

Joshua turned and his grin retreated, his violet eyes widening at the sight.

The swarm of half-Noise all launched energy attacks in sync with Neku and Shiki. There was an loud explosion, and then Joshua fell to the ground.

"Oh hell," Uzuki spat, as she and Kariya pressed back-to-back as some of the newly-formed half-Noise circled around them hungrily.

"See, this is why we should have left earlier," Kariya replied through gritted teeth, summoning shurikens as Uzuki summoned her gun.

Beat's wings spread out apprehensively as other half-people stalked toward him, some manically happy but most coldly angry. The yellow light in their pupils burned relentlessly.

Beat's head snapped to where Joshua was still lying on ground. He didn't know if the gray-maned boy was conscious or not since his face was turned away from him, but he showed no signs of moving, much less getting up.

…_Shit, is he out? Well, they _did _attack all at once…_

Other half-Noise, including Shiki, approached the still Joshua. Neku growled at them and they backed off timidly. The wolf-boy walked over to the Composer, his expression cool. The others watched him as if observing a ceremony.

"Wha, what's he doin'?" wondered Beat, trying to get closer only to be assaulted by multiple half-Noise, including a half-frog Yammer. Well, the guy _was_ kind of a slimy personality…and more importantly, crazed and in the way. Beat fought back and held his own, but he wasn't getting any closer to Neku and Joshua either.

Neku looked down at the unmoving Joshua, apparently contemplating. Then a feral grin slipped onto his face as he raised a clawed hand, a black-and-blue fireball materializing in his downward palm.

_Oh hell_, thought Beat, his gut clenching. "Neku, don't do it, yo!"

Neku didn't even pay him a glance.

_Nonononono…_thought Beat, shutting his eyes tightly. "_Stop it! Stoooooop!"_

Everything seem to shatter and warp around him. Signs bent. Lights and glass broke. Neku was driven back, holding his ears, as well as the rest of the half-Noise. Uzuki gripped her head as Kariya fell to his knees.

Beat stared dumbly, flabbergasted at the damage his mere scream had done. How was that even possible? Then again, so many impossible things had already happened, were happening. Impossible needed a new definition.

"Let's _go_, Skulls!" Uzuki yelled, helping Kariya back to his feet and retreating from the stunned half-Noise. Beat soon complied, scooping up the unconscious Joshua before following.

"I-I don't know what that was man," Beat admitted as he caught up, Joshua over his shoulder. "Tha' never happened before, yo. Even during the Game."

"Whatever you did…" Kariya muttered, leaning against Uzuki somewhat. "Hey, it worked…A little warning next time though…"

"You sure you're okay?" asked Uzuki, frowning at her partner's addled condition.

"Well, I'm not erased…Can't be too bad…"

"Where are we goin'?" asked Beat. The insanity would be in the rest of Shibuya as well, if it wasn't already there.

"Don't worry, I know just the place," Uzuki replied with a sly smirk. "Might even be able to get a bite to eat."

IIIIII

"Ever catch your curry?" asked Mr. Doi. He seemed oddly serene about several Reapers walking into his restaurant. New graffiti had covered up and neutralized the mark that suppressed Reaper powers and allowed Players to temporarily materialize in the RG. Then again, the barriers between RG and UG seemed to be breaking down anyway, so maybe the mark was active but useless.

"No. Everythin' went psycho so I forgot all about it," replied Beat. He was at his usual seat, with a sleeping Joshua slumped in the seat next to him. Uzuki and Kariya were at some seats on the end, Uzuki checking over a now-dozing Kariya. "…You got anythin' else left?"

"Nope. Tried going out earlier. Bad idea," Mr. Doi replied, not bothering to elaborate.

"Oh…I'm hungry though…"

"Beat?" a small voice squeaked.

Beat spun around to see Rhyme peeking into the restaurant. There was some tears in her clothes.

"Rhyme!" called Beat, rushing over. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Rhyme answered, not nearly as frazzled as her older brother. Her polite smile faded into dull puzzlement as she noticed the wings. "Why are you a Reaper again?"

"Well…" Beat began, trailing off.

Rhyme touched his arm. "You're cold. Dead cold."

Beat looked away from his sister in guilt. "I still don't get how it happened, yo. I was freakin' out because everythin' was so _wrong_, then _I _started feeling wrong, then I next thing I know I'm on the ground and I'm a Reaper again. It don't make any sense."

"Sounds like that lousy seal finally broke."

Everybody turned to Joshua, who was now awake. He had the usual irritating smile, like he hadn't just suffered a defeat from hundreds of Half-Noise.

"Whatchu talkin' about?" demanded Beat, stomping over to him. How could he be so confident after he got knocked out so easily by a ganged-up sucker punch? Rhyme mildly followed her brother.

"Yeah, it confused the crap out of me too," added Uzuki. "People don't just grow Reaper wings for no reason. You work for them!"

"Oh, it's quite simple really," Joshua replied, unfazed by Beat's loudness or Uzuki's agreement. "When's a person's Reaper side is released, it is not so easily put back in the box. In fact, only the Composer, that is, me, can properly reseal it.

Uzuki gawked. "_You're _the Composer?"

"Ah, that's right, you're the only one here you didn't know," Joshua answered blandly. "Not that it's common knowledge, mind you. Welcome to the club."

Uzuki gave accusing stares to everyone else in the room. No one answered in return.

"Wha? But you weren't there being a Composer when I was a Reaper," noted Beat in confusion. Joshua had been secretly participating in the Game then, being Neku's partner until he faked his own death. During Beat's Game with Neku the Composer was lounging around in another dimension.

"Right, I wasn't there to reseal you when the decision was made," Joshua answered. "Not only that, but Megumi the Conductor, who could have done a decent if not perfect job of it, couldn't be bothered with the task. Instead he assigned the resealing to a mere officer Reaper who, while she was quite powerful, didn't have nearly enough experience or skill to do it properly."

"You mean Ironface did it?" asked Beat. That woman gave him nightmares for the longest time, seeing her destroying Rhyme's Noise form over and over while she grinned savagely.

"Yes, Konishi. A fine Reaper, but not at all loyal. If you hadn't erased her yourself then I would have done so myself," Joshua remarked, sighing and shrugging. "Point is, your sealing was botched. It was such a shabby job that I'm surprised it took this long to break."

"But if you knew about the bad seal, then why didn't you fix it?" asked Rhyme.

"Yeah! I don't wanna be a Reaper again!" Beat chimed in. "Change me back, yo!"

"Now, now," Joshua chided lazily. "I've been busy trying to fix the UG and recruit new officer Reapers. That comes before you, sadly. As for your current request, don't you think we should wait until the current crisis is over, hmm?"

Beat knew he had no way to argue against that.

"This current situation is beyond anything I anticipated," Joshua went on, his expression growing more serious. "Nothing like this came up in my visions, just trivial things like who win the next Tin Pin tournament or what will be the next fashion trend. Clairvoyance can be so unreliable at times. If only Sanae was here."

"Dude, even _you _don't know what's goin' on, prissy boy?" Beat asked in disbelief. Wasn't this guy supposed to know everything about Shibuya?

"I'm not completely clueless," Joshua answered. "Something is preventing the people of Shibuya from properly producing Noise."

"Huh? Looks like they're producing Noise just fine to me," countered Uzuki.

"I said producing Noise _properly_," the Composer emphasized. "Normally people release chump Noise when they start to get stressed. You know this from the Game. This is a natural mechanism to make sure a person doesn't go insane from the natural Noise it produces. Otherwise…"

"Otherwise this kind of thing happens," concluded Rhyme. "But what would prevent a person from releasing their Noise?"

"Ah, that is the question," admitted Joshua. "It's one thing for a random person to be unable to release their Noise. It's something else for _everyone _to be unable to do it, at the same time. Especially Neku and Shiki. Being previous Players, they should be skilled in managing their own Soul and Noise. And even if someone is unable to release their Noise, this kind of escalation usually takes years, not a couple months like this."

The Composer studied Beat and Rhyme.

"Which brings up something else: Why haven't you two been affected?"

"Well, it doesn't seem to be affecting the Reapers, and Beat's kind of been a Reaper all this time, right?" offered Rhyme. "And I'm a special case. Do I produce Noise?"

Beat cringed at how nonchalant Rhyme was about her loss of passion. Then again, it took passion to worry about something, didn't it?

"No you cannot," said Joshua. "Noise is linked to desire and strong emotions, neither of which you've had since the Game you participated in." He turned to Beat. "Now you, you're producing plenty of Noise. Too much Noise, really. And yet despite all the Noise you're releasing, Noise seems to keep building up within you."

Beat was taken aback. "H-How can you tell?"

"I just can," Joshua replied vaguely. "It would take too long to explain the details."

"Yo, if the opposite is going crazy in turning Noise, I ain't complaining," answered Beat, though he still looked nervous. "This is like…no it's worse than the whole thing with the Red Skull pins. Only it ain't nothing like that, it's-"

"The exact opposite," Joshua interrupted, holding his chin before pounding his fist into his palm. "That's it!"

"What's it?" asked Beat in puzzlement.

"The Red Skull pins, that's what's causing this!" announced Joshua. "It's the backlash from it."

"Wha?"

"Yeah, you lost me there too," added Uzuki.

"Let me explain," Joshua continued. "People have mental barriers to protect their thoughts and keep them individuals. Both the Player pins and Red Skull pins are able to bypass those barriers. In the case of the Red Skull pins, which hijacked everyone's minds with the same thought, it was more like violating those barriers."

"No kidding," replied Uzuki dryly, as she and Kariya had been two of many victims. "It's just as well that I can't remember much of anything from that time."

"Anyway, people's minds react to these trepasses and become stronger over time, making them harder to penetrate. We have to upgrade the imprinting power of the Player Pins every now and then because of this," Joshua explained. "But like I said, the Red Skull pins mass imprinting was like a hostile takeover, so the minds subject to it reacted by greatly strengthening their mental barriers."

"I don't blame them," said Beat.

"The problem is that they reacted so strongly that their own thoughts and Noise can't pass through the new barrier," Joshua replied. "It hampers people's ability to sympathize and communicate, since nothing can get in either. On top of that, O-Pins like the Red Skull boost creativity power, which creates new thought but also added Noise and stress. And their new ideas aren't appreciated because the mental barriers are so thick and not accepting anything from the outside, only their own new thought. Meanwhile, the Noise within them builds and grows, denied even Reaper release because of the strength of the barriers. Madness is inevitable."

"But what about Neku and Shiki?" asked Rhyme. "They weren't taken over by the Red Skull pins."

"Shiki was," Beat corrected. "She had a Red Skull pin from a previous mission or somethin'. Me and Neku had to fight her, and she was way stronger than usual. Dude, she had that strange black static that Neku had earlier! But Neku never got took over, so why's he all nuts now?"

"Hmm…" pondered Joshua. "I can't be sure, but I have a couple of theories."

"Like what?" asked Beat.

"First Neku has an incredible amount of power, but he's isn't always able to handle it properly," said Joshua. "Also, though he's much more sociable now, he's something of a loner by nature. For him to get too involved in isolating himself to discover his raw power is certainly plausible. But also…"

"But what?" asked Beat.

"He might have been weakened from the whole ordeal of the Games," Joshua added. "And from preserving your existence."

Beat gave the Composer a blank stare. "Wha?"

"Why do you think you didn't just fade when your time was up?" asked Joshua. "Granted, your own willpower helped, but it was Neku's own power, his own bond with you, that ultimately kept you from being erased. And that took quite a bit of power from Neku, mind you, especially after the Game."

"After…You-you saying I've been draining him all this time?" Beat breathed.

"Precisely," Joshua answered. "You didn't start feeling strange until everyone else started acting strange, right? As Neku's inner barriers strengthened, because of his own nature and his reaction to the world around him, your connection to him weakened and eventually severed. It was lucky that your Reaper seal was so weak, or you probably would have just died instead."

Beat felt his stomach twist. "You sayin'…this is my fault?"

"Not entirely. Mostly it's Megumi's last laugh," Joshua answered, shaking his head. "But at least in the case of Neku, yes."

Beat's horrified gaze slipped to the floor, his hands clenched tightly.

"Beat?" Rhyme asked, touching her brother's shoulder.

He bolted from the restaurant.

"Beat, wait!" Rhyme called out, chasing after him.

"Come back you two! It's not safe out there!" shouted Mr. Doi, only to be either unheeded or unheard. The ramen-worker gave an exasperated sigh.

"Hmm, seems I've hit a sore spot," Joshua mused.

"You going to go after them?" asked Mr. Doi.

"In a minute," Joshua replied lazily. "You don't seem terribly concerned for my safety. Though you seem very much worried about the meathead's."

"He reminds me of my old partner in the Games," Mr. Doi replied. "Before he started going insane, anyway. I don't want to see the kid taking the same route. Said partner also told me who you really are, so I know you can handle yourself just fine out there."

"Ah," Joshua answered with a bland smile. "So how is Minamimoto doing?"

Mr. Doi leered at the gray-maned Composer. "I think you know that just as well as I do."

IIIIII

Beat ran and ran. He didn't even know where he was running to, nor did he care. Just as long as it was away from everything.

"Beat!" Rhyme called behind him. "Beat, stop!"

Beat eventually did stop, but not for the sake of his sister. He stopped because he tripped and fell flat on his face. He was still laying there when Rhyme caught up with him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, leaning over him.

Beat pushed himself up, his Reaper wings draped over him.

"Yo…" he began, still looking at the ground. "I ain't…I ain't turning into a monster, am I?"

"What are you talking about?" Rhyme questioned with a mild smile. "You're still the same ol' Beat as far as I can tell."

"You sure?" asked Beat. "It's just…I haven't felt right lately, you know?"

"Seems no one's feeling right at the moment," remarked Rhyme.

"That's not what I mean, yo," answered Beat. "No one actin' right, so how do I know _I'm_ okay? That I ain't a part of it somehow?"

"You're questioning your sanity?" asked Rhyme calmly.

"…Yeah, guess so."

"Insane people don't do that much," Rhyme replied with a grin. "So you should be okay."

"You sure?"

"Yep," Rhyme chirped. "…But that's not the only thing bothered you, is it?"

Beat averted his gaze. She could always read him so easily.

"The stuff Prissy Boy said," he mumbled. "And…"

They were interrupted by light, quick footsteps. A small pack of half-Noise skittered into the alleyway, rushing toward the siblings. Beat quickly took a defensive pose before Rhyme, ready to fend off incoming attacks. Only the half-Noise dashed past them, not even noticing the two of them.

"Wha?" Beat asked, watching the fleeing half-Noise in confusion. "Where they goin'?"

"Beat," Rhyme said stiffly, looking straight ahead.

Beat spun back around, and saw the reason for the dread.

At the mouth of the alleyway was a mostly-Noise person, the body swathed in lion-like tattoos. Only a deranged grinning face could be seen among the black tattoo lines. And Beat knew that deranged face.

"Pi-Face!" Beat exclaimed. "But I thought he got erased!"

Sho Minamimoto, better known by many other names besides his true one, started to cackle madly. Then he charged, releasing a cry that was more animal than human.

_IIIIII_

_So do you understand things better now that things have been explained somewhat, or did I melt your brains even further? Bwahahaha...in all seriousness, did the explanations make sense and everyone seem IC? Anything that still needs explaining? (things involving Beat and Rhyme will be explained next chapter, and, if needed, a chapter/epilogue afterward) _

_I will be working on the next chapter shortly, so at the least it should arrive earlier than this one did XP. As a side note/advertisment, there should be some new one-shots for the PLAYGROUND series soon as well. _

**_NEXT CHAPTER: The One Star's Transformation_**

_Cya!_


	3. Scale 3: The One Star's Transformation

_Hiya everybody! Well, it's finally here, the third and final chapter! Perhaps not surprisingly this chapter needed a lot of work to make sure it lived up to the epicness of everything before that. And with lots of stuff added/rewritten, I hope I have accomplished that. _

_Good music to listen to during this chapter: Blood Music by Zeromancer._

IIIIII

"_I have been no more than a medium, as it were." -Henri Matisse_

**Scale 3: The One Star's Transformation**

"Get down!" shouted Beat, yanking himself and Rhyme to the ground. The crazed Minamimoto sailed over their heads, loud static-like popping coming from his tattoo-covered body. He landed with a mighty thud behind the siblings, and then quickly spun around to face them. Beat and Rhyme did the same. His eyes had a deep red pinprick of light shining in them.

"Wha's goin' on, yo?" Beat muttered. "How can Pi-Face still be around? Me and Neku and Shiki all saw him crushed under a pile of junk."

"Did he turn into static?" Rhyme asked.

Beat gave his sister a simple, long stare. "Now that you mention it, we didn't. He jus' wasn't moving, so we assumed…"

Of course that was a stupid thing to assume. The only time a Noise or Reaper was confirmed dead was when he/she/it dissolved into static. Beat knew that, but he tended to be stupid. He was surprised Neku and Shiki didn't know better though. They were way smarter than he was.

Still, Beat didn't have too much time to dwell on the matter. Minamimoto was charging dark beams of energy in his hands and his open mouth. Both of them dived out of the way as black lasers shot over their heads. The attack left smoking dark scars upon the alley walls they passed so close to.

"We need to activate our pact," Rhyme said calmly as she observed the half-Noise before her. One would have thought she was just talking about a mangy street-cat by her passive tone.

"No we don't. I can take this guy myself!" announced Beat, his wings spreading wide as he stood back up. "I'm a Reaper now. I have my own power."

Beat felt himself get jerked back down by Rhyme as Minamimoto fired another series of black lasers. He felt the overwhelming heat they gave off as he shot just above him. In fact he thought he smelled something burning…his hat! He hurriedly took it off, and saw that it now had a smoldering hole at the tip.

"But I don't have any powers outside of the pact," pointed out Rhyme coolly. "And I don't want to be a helpless target during the fight. Let's pact."

Beat gritted his teeth, but he knew she was right. She was smarter than him. Everyone was smarter than him. Drive never made up for logic. "Alright. Let's do this."

They took each other's hands and there was a flash of blue light. Beat felt his Soul mingle with Rhyme's as their existences were weaved together. Soon he felt his sister's quiet thoughts tickling the back of his brain, mostly wordless processes rather than active reasoning.

Normally Rhyme was transported into the "bottom" Noise zone while Beat was taken to the "top" Noise zone, but this time neither sibling was spirited elsewhere.

"I guess the dimensions are so mixed up right now that we don't need to be taken to another plane," noted Rhyme. "The RG, the UG, and the Noise zones are practically one right now."

Their pact complete, both Bito siblings leapt out of the way of more black blasts. Beat flew around on his now-animated skateboard, while Rhyme used one of her many pins to summon winged shoes. She whipped out a red-and-yellow yoyo, her medium, to whack Minamimoto upside the head with. It was the first time Beat had actually seen his sister fight, he realized, though their pact connection had made him familiar with her graceful combat style. The ringing of her bell pendant throughout all her movements was surreal and almost distracting.

The insane lion-man spun in Rhyme's direction, but Beat rammed into him and sent him soaring into a wall. Minamimoto quickly regained his footing and lunged at Beat, but the blonde Reaper blocked the charge with his skateboard. He was knocked back a few feet from the sheer force of the blow, scaring up dust and dirt as he was sent skidding back.

The half-Noise then became entangled in the golden wires of Rhyme's yoyo, restricting him. Her target bound, Rhyme then tapped another one of her pins to strike the lion-man with three successive lightning bolts. Minamimoto roared in pain and anger, breaking the wires trapping him. The shock wave sent Beat into a pile of trash and Rhyme through a store window.

"Rhyme!" Beat called as he suddenly resurfaced from the garbage. One of his Reaper wings got caught in a black plastic bag and cut it open, spilling its filthy contents everywhere.

_**I'm fine, **_Rhyme called mentally, startling Beat but also relieving his worry. It seemed strange that she had a telepathic connection to him now, though that was typical of any activated pact. It didn't feel like the usual pact though, with her in the same dimension as him. Then again, not much was usual lately. Would he even recognize the usual if he saw it now?

Minamimoto fell onto all fours, but not because of weakness. The writhing black tattoos now moved to swallow his face, leaving the former official Reaper completely bound by slithering lines. The tattoos on his body then became much more wild, out and lashing about like a black fur of crooked serpents.

_Shit, is he- _thought Beat.

_**Going full Noise, probably, **_answered his sister, as she reappeared from the depths of the store. There were some bleeding cuts on her face and arms from the broken glass. While Rhyme bruised and bled from wounds, Beat flickered when he was injured. The difference between being alive and being dead. _**Watch out!**_

Minamimoto's tattoo mane fur stood on end, and black-to-white barbs shot out in all directions. They flew about like wasps, zigzagging throughout the air randomly until they became embedded in something. Even with Beat's skateboard shielding and Rhyme's agility both blondes got struck by some of the ragged missiles.

For a moment Beat literally saw red as a bestial rage flared in him. Then his sight returned to normal as he pulled out the sharp projectiles.

"Rhyme! You aight?" Beat called to his sister.

"Yeah," Rhyme answered, calmly pulling out her own barbs and throwing them back at Minamimoto. The lion-man's own fur grew and distorted into a cage-like barrier to block them. During the distraction Rhyme tapped her Healing Bunny Pin, summoning a healing glow that restored some energy to her and Beat.

Beat fell back to his specialty of bashing with his skateboard and then retreating, while Rhyme provided long-range support in the forms of pins or yoyo strikes. Minamimoto countered or blocked each blow with either his swipes or tendril fur. Despite both of them taking constant hits in the vicious melee, only Beat and Rhyme seemed to be wearing down.

Then the lion-man swung away to avoid being entangled in the string of Rhyme's yoyo again. He used his wild tattoo fur as numerous legs to climb and strike, like a spider made of snakes. More sharp fur fragments plummeted down like a storm of knives.

"Man, nothin' we're doin' is workin'," Beat muttered, flying out of the way of black energy blasts as well as the falling tattoo barbs. He suddenly skidded to the side to avoid being skewered by one of the many fur-legs.

"No, we're doing damage," Rhyme corrected, pointing to some broken, flickering tattoos in the lion-man's arms, fur-legs, and left side. There was also some blood leaking through the Noise armor. "But I think he's so far gone that he can't even feel pain. That's going to make him much harder to take down."

His sister had said this matter-of-factly, but it unnerved Beat. Were they going to have to outright erase Minamimoto? Sure, he had never liked the math-obsessed Reaper any more than anyone else, and did not exactly have sympathy for someone who purposefully made themselves into a Taboo Noise. But did it count as erasure or murder here in this odd RG-UG mix? And if he couldn't be saved, then what about Neku and Shiki, or the rest of Shibuya? Would they have to-

"Sho!"

Minamimoto spun around in the other direction, where Mr. Doi was now standing. The ramen master looked both determined and horrified at the sight before him. With him were Uzuki, with her Reaper gun drawn, and Kariya, who seemed mostly better. Joshua was nowhere in sight.

"Whatchu guys doin' here?" shouted Beat from the other side of the distorted beast. Rhyme seemed only mildly surprised.

"Saving your butts, that's what," Uzuki growled. "What were you guys thinking, running off with all these crazy half-Noise around?"

"Uh…wasn't thinkin' really," admitted Beat.

Uzuki groaned. Kariya chuckled.

"Sho!" Mr. Doi yelled again, ignoring the others as he kept his gaze locked with the lion-man's. "Sho, listen to me! You're stronger than this, kid!"

Minamimoto roared back, almost causing Mr. Doi to fall over from its supernatural power.

"You know Pi-Face?" Beat asked, confused.

"He was his old partner in the Games," explained Kariya. "And one reason he knows as much as he does. Believe it or not, they've been buddies ever since."

"_Wha_? You serious?"

"This look like the time for jokes, Skulls?" asked Kariya, though his amused expression suggested otherwise.

"I should have interfered earlier," Mr. Doi went on to the lion-man. "I won't let you fall so far. There's only one option for saving you now."

There was a flash of blue light, and then Minamimoto roared again as a cerulean glow enveloped him and Mr. Doi. The others turned to him in surprise and alarm.

_Wait, don't tell me he's offering himself for consumption! It'll destroy him! _Beat thought fearfully. "Don't do it, yo!"

"A bit late for that," Kariya said grimly, his expression now serious. "Once consumption's started there's no stopping it until one side wins and evolves by absorbing the other. Unless you got a way of cutting the connection."

Mr. Doi gritted his teeth as the blue aura around him grew brighter, but his eyes stayed open and fearless.

Minamimoto suddenly became even wilder. The lion-man spat out garbled cries that sounded almost like words as he began to thrash about, smashing and clawing anything near him. The fur legs buckled and sent him falling to the ground. Beat thought the screams sounded more human, but he wasn't sure.

Then the half-Noise let out a ripping screech that sounded neither human or animal. The black-to-white tattoos on his body uncoiled and lashed out like whips. Both Uzuki and Rhyme became entangled in the lines, the sharp edges cutting into her skin.

"Stop it!" yelled Beat. "Stop it now, Pi-Face!"

The chaos ignored his warnings. Mr. Doi was starting to look strained despite his bravery.

"Stop it…" Beat growled, now more enraged than upset. His vision began to turn red again. "Stop it, stop it, stop it…"

"Beat…?" asked Rhyme with what sounded almost like concern. Her voice seemed far away. Everything seemed far away really. Only the lion-man seemed real, as if he was the only one that mattered. Other voices were becoming loathsome blurs of sound.

Then something broke inside of him, like a wooden board put under pressure for too long. A new something came in its place, seeping into his bones and soul. Everything suddenly seemed sharper and clearer. He no longer saw a lion-man but a Noise half-undone, feeding upon itself and the blue light that engulfed it. A deep rumbled bubbled out of his throat, mere words unneeded and forgotten.

The Noise beast noticed the shift too, and focused its pinprick red pupils on him. It barreled toward him, claws, fangs and unwinding fur extended like scorpion tails.

He spread his wings and shot forward, his skateboard chasing behind him of its own accord. He swatted the Noise down just as its claws dug into his arm. The skateboard then proceeded to slam into the Noise beast relentlessly, driving it back.

He wasn't going to let it run away, however. He got behind the Noise beast and pile-drived it into the ground. The skateboard in turn began ramming away on the back of the lion Noise's head. It let out a roar of pain and then sunk its teeth and into his shoulder while whipping him with its tentacle-like fur. None of this fazed him. He would win. Nothing else mattered, including that burdensome racket in the faraway background.

The Noise beast's constant roaring was annoying him. What a pathetic roaring it was, all sound and fury. He would show it what a _real_ roar was. So he roared back.

The Noise beast shrieked as it shook and cracked from the raw force of his sound. Other things like walls and trashcans trembled and shattered in respect. The blue glow around the Noise beast abruptly dissolved as the creature knotted onto itself and shrank. Big parts of its tattoo body began to break off and fall on the ground. The fragments became other, smaller Noise such as wolves and minks, which attacked him immediately after forming. He smashed them easily with massive swipes from his broad tattoo arms.

The Noise beast reformed into a lion cub, frightened and shaking. The little Noise skittered back to its human master, where it unwove itself and merged once again with its master's body. The gray-haired Reaper moaned a little but otherwise remained unconscious.

He was not happy with his prey fleeing. He had wanted to devour it once it was weakened, and now it was beyond his reach. Now he wanted- _needed_ -something else to fill his ravenous, beastly hunger. Yes, he was-

_Stop._

He whirled around to see a white-and-red fox with golden tails starting him down. Its gaze was cool but unrelenting.

_Stop this now._

He did not stop, however, instead heading straight for the fox. He would make _this_ his prey. The fox did not attempt to move or attack in return, but stayed seated.

_I command you to stop this._

His body suddenly froze in mid-step, causing him to fall down. He could not move. All he could do was growl at his vulpine aggressor.

_Go to sleep._

Suddenly he felt so tired, like he had run for days and days without resting. He struggled just to keep his eyes open.

_Sleep._

He lost his fight with drowsiness, and slipped into slumber.

IIIIII

Beat woke up feeling sore and groggy. Everyone was crowded around him, which puzzled him. Couldn't a guy get some privacy while getting a nap? Wait, he didn't remember falling asleep here. He had been waking up clueless like this too much lately…

"You okay?" asked Rhyme. She seemed even more tired than he was.

Beat sat up gingerly. His head throbbed for a few moments, but the pain soon faded. Then he noticed the broken alleyway, littered with shredded junk and deep claw marks in the walls. "Wha happened?"

"You went Noise there for awhile," Uzuki explained, seeming both irritated and worried. "Lucky for you that you passed out from exhaustion before you went full Noise."

"No, tha wasn't…wait, my _Noise_?" Beat asked with wide eyes, as the news sank in. Now that he was fully awake he felt _it_, the quiet but alive power laying patiently underneath his skin. "You mean I've got that madness that everyone else has?"

"Something along those lines," Kariya replied casually. Beat thought he saw something other than the orange-haired Reaper standing there, but the confusion only lasted a couple of seconds. "Nearly took Skulls Jr. with you."

"Whatchu-" Beat began, before realizing what Kariya meant: consumption. He had nearly consumed his own sister in his Noise frenzy. A nauseous pit opened up in his stomach. He was no more immune to the growing lunacy than anyone else, even though he should have been. Where did that leave Rhyme?

"Don't worry, I'm okay," Rhyme assured with a fatigued smile. This only made Beat feel worse instead of better. "And Mr. Doi and Minamimoto are fine too." She gestured to where Mr. Doi was helping the gray-haired Reaper get to his feet.

"Well, it could have turned out ghastly," remarked Joshua, literally appearing from out of nowhere. Everyone jumped at his sudden arrival. "But it didn't, so you're good."

"Hey, where have _you_ been?" snapped Uzuki. "We could've used your help earlier, you know!"

"Only you didn't, because you're all still here," Joshua countered mildly. "So I stayed out of it. But my, Daisuken-"

"Don't call me that!" Beat shouted.

"…As I was saying, you've turned out to be much more powerful than expected," Joshua went on. "Then again, considering how your Imagination is formatted, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Whatchu babblin' -" Beat began.

"_Composer_!" shouted Minamimoto loudly, charging for Joshua. "Prepare to be subtracted from existence, radian!"

Joshua raised his hand and blasted Minamimoto with a light beam without even looking. Mr. Doi got in front of his Reaper partner before he could attempt any more attacks.

"Why don't we take this elsewhere?" suggested Joshua to Beat. Before the blonde had a say he was whisked away.

After a brief flash of white and static, Beat found himself on top of the 104 Building, overlooking the Scramble Crossing. Most of the horizon was smothered by graffiti, as was the bottom part of the 104 Building, but the top remained untouched. Roaming the streets in packs were the half-Noise. Beat wondered where Neku and Shiki were among all the colors.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Joshua restarted, paying little attention to the insane city below. "There are actually two types of Imagination, positive and negative: that is, creative and destructive. The names are self-explanatory: creative Imagination makes things while destructive Imagination takes things apart. How much creative and destructive power someone has varies per person."

"So?" asked Beat. He didn't get the point of this conversation, nor why Joshua decided to take him to another place to explain it.

"I, for example, favor destructive Imagination, though I have a fair amount of creative Imagination as well," the Composer continued. "Neku has exactly equal amounts of creative and destructive Imagination. Shiki has 100% creative Imagination, which is unusual. And you, my friend, have 100% _destructive_ Imagination."

"I do?" asked Beat dumbly, pointing to himself. "Wha's tha' mean?"

"It means you're especially good at breaking things down into simpler parts," Joshua explained. "It makes your attacks more powerful because they go through the usual defenses. You can even break regular and spiritual laws of physics for both the UG and the RG. In other words, you cannot be restrained and there's literally nothing you cannot break."

"You serious?" Beat asked. A raven half-Noise soared over their heads, paying them no mind as it cawed and danced about in the sky. Beat wondered if that half-Noise had once been a person who dreamed of flying.

"Oh, I'm serious. I first suspected it when I heard about you breaking Reaper barriers with sheer force during your third Game," Joshua answered with a smirk, before his expression turned more serious. "It is a simple but dangerous power. Break the wrong thing and who knows what will happen. It might end up being beyond even the Angels' repair, much less mine. But it might be just what we need right now."

"Whatchu mean?"

"The seal on Minamimoto's Noise was very similar to the self-imposed barriers on everyone else," Joshua began. "Yet you were not only able to break that seal made by Sanae, but you were able to break down his Noise to a more manageable size, thereby saving his sanity. Or what little he had to start with, anyway. So…"

"So what?"

Joshua sighed as if he was talking to a child who didn't understand anything. "_So_, if you use that power on the half-Noise, we should be able to return them to normal."

"Really?" Beat asked, feeling hopeful for the first time since…when? It had been too long.

"It's not as simple as it sounds though," warned Joshua. "You would be fighting against all of Shibuya. While me and the others could hold off and weaken some of the half-Noise, and there would be some natural in-fighting among the half-Noise themselves, it has to be _you_ who breaks the barrier of each one. You can't use too much power, or you'll just break them outright. It also means you would have to allow your own Noise some control, and if it completely takes over and breaks something it shouldn't…well, goodbye Shibuya. And possibly the rest of our reality."

Beat's mouth was set in a firm straight line as he contemplated the consequences of things gone wrong. "Well, if there ain't no other way-"

"Ah, but there _are_ other ways," said Joshua. "Would you like to hear about them?"

"Wha? Why didn't ya say so?" Beat barked with some irritation.

"I hadn't gotten to it yet," said Joshua with a lazy shrug. "Anyway, option 1: you consume someone to evolve and stabilize your Noise. Rhyme or Uzuki or…no, not Kariya…"

"What's wrong with Kariya?" questioned Beat.

Joshua gave him a knowing grin. "Don't _you_ know what's wrong with Kariya?"

Something about the way the Composer said it gave Beat chills. No, it wasn't just that…it was Kariya. There _was_ something wrong with Kariya, but what?

"Well, it don't matter," Beat growled. "I ain't consuming nobody, ever."

"Actually, you would have to consume someone at some point, so now might be the best time to get it out of the way," Joshua suggested. "It would make success with the half-Noise plan much more likely as well."

"No," Beat said firmly. "I ain't gonna give into my Noise."

"Alright then, so I guess we won't be doing that," answered Joshua with a slight smile. "Option 2: I reset Shibuya back to how it was before your Games."

"You can do that?" questioned Beat incredulously.

"Yep, and I _have_ done it on a couple of occasions. I don't like to, though. Makes me look bad to those up above," the Composer explained, pointing upward. "But it would be the most simple solution. And it's what I will have to do if you are unable to win against the half-Noise, or if you turn full Noise yourself."

"Would we remember anything?" asked Beat.

"No," Joshua answered. "It would be as if the Games never happened for any of you. As a plus point, none of you would die young like you did before, and all Reapers erased during those Games would be brought back and never erased like that again. You would never become a Player, much less a Reaper, and all of you would have long, peaceful lives."

"Never in the Game…never a Player or a Reaper…" Beat repeated to himself, thinking back to all the horrors during the three Games he was in. Rhyme never becoming erased and then becoming a Noise, Rhyme never losing her passion. No fighting Noise and seeing other Players erased. No Joshua. No Shiki. No Neku. No escape from the trap of his previous life, no getting closer to Rhyme. No realizing of everyone's power. No friends. No future.

"No," said Beat, looking down. "It ain't worth it, man. None of us would be us anymore. It ain't worth it."

"I see," replied Joshua with a nod. "Well, those were my options. So you would rather do this the hard way and fight Shibuya?"

"Yeah," said Beat, standing taller. He gazed out to all the other graffiti-swathed buildings.

_Don't go the distance for other people, _he remembered Neku saying to him back in their final Game. _Do it for yourself. You're an idiot, so start acting like one._

Beat smiled. A whole flock of bird half-Noise soared above them, before diving down back into the streets below.

"Very well then," replied Joshua. "Of course we must tell the others and then come up with a battle plan…"

IIIIII

It was the evening before the grand melee began. Everyone was staying at the higher floors of the 104 Buildings. Joshua was out hunting down and recruiting Reapers stranded out in the chaos of Shibuya. Mr. Doi was scrounging the abandoned food places for dinner ingredients, while Minamimoto was happily plundering the unguarded electronic stores for his newest garbage-pile masterpiece. Kariya was sleeping, stretched out on a couch for sale. Rhyme was slumbering too, curled up in one of the changing rooms.

Beat was gazing outside again, having grown bored of wandering the spaces of the mostly-empty building. Somehow he wasn't tired enough to doze off. In a way, he was _too_ tired to doze off, though that should have been impossible. The sunset was the red, orange, and gold: the color of fire.

"Hey Skulls," Uzuki greeted blandly, as she walked over to join him. She was carrying a bundle of clothes that still had the shopping tags attached. "You restless?"

"Yeah, guess so," Beat answered, leaning against the window. "Hard to relax when everything's goin' nuts, you know?"

"No kidding," Uzuki replied, also looking outside. "I don't know how Kariya does it." She paused. "You know, I usually get so mad at him when he stays so lax, but at the same time I kinda envy him."

"Yeah," Beat agreed. "Hey Pinky?"

"It's Uzuki," she growled. "And what?"

"Why do ya think Neku and Shiki went crazy, while I'm jus' startin' to go nuts?"

"Huh? Didn't that Joshua kid say it was because of those Red Skull O-Pins?" asked Uzuki.

"Well, yeah, I know that, but it ain't jus' that," Beat answered. "Neku and Shiki, they're strong, and I'm not, at least not compared to 'em. I ain't known for self-control, like, _ever, _and Noise are all 'bout impulse, right? So why do ya think I've lasted this long?"

"Because you're tough," said Uzuki simply. "Ridiculously tough. You don't let things fester inside you either. You just let it out for everyone to know. And you're the kind of guy nobody can ignore."

"Really?" asked Beat, at first sounding hopeful, but then appearing skeptical. " 'Cause it seems like that's what happens whenever I'm with Rhyme or anybody else. People remember Rhyme and other people, but they don't remember me. I'm just that older brother, or that big guy, that funny guy, that stupid guy. I jus' wanna be remembered for who I really am, you know?"

"Oh, you'll be remembered," Uzuki assured seriously. "You've got all of us here, and Neku and Shiki too whenever they're fixed. People are only forgotten if people let themselves be forgotten, and sometimes even that doesn't work. People fight for lifelong causes for people they barely know. The death of a single person can cause war and revolution. So go on and keep being your usual loud self, and it shouldn't be a problem. Really this kind of moodiness isn't like you."

Beat nodded and smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Gotta start actin' like an idiot again."

"As long as your stupidity doesn't get you erased," Uzuki replied.

"I can't get erased," said Beat. "Ain't possible. Got too many people countin' on me."

"Atta boy."

IIIIII

They all stood waiting at Shibuya Crossing. Right now it was empty, perhaps the emptiest it had been in years, or decades. But the swarms of half-Noise would come soon enough. They could hear their wild cries in the distance.

They had gathered up what Reapers they could find for the upcoming battle. Minamimoto was also there, blathering on about decimals and fractions to Mr. Doi, their pact active. Uzuki and Kariya remained unpacted, for Kariya refused to pact and Uzuki only wanted to pact with him. Once again Joshua's words about Kariya haunted Beat.

Rhyme was in a new pact with Joshua. Both Beat and Rhyme agreed it was for the best. Beat would have to be partially taken over by his Noise in order to access his peak breaking power, so anyone in an active pact with him would be in danger of being consumed. As Joshua was the most powerful partner anyone could have, they chose him. He claimed a debt to Beat for saving him earlier anyway.

Rhyme turned to Beat with her usual smile. "We can do this."

Beat smiled and nodded back.

"They're here," said Joshua with a serious expression, flipping his phone open. He was staying in his non-ultimate form because his ultimate Composer form would completely erase anything that so much as touched him. He was here to weaken, not destroy. Rhyme tensed next to him, bringing out her yoyo.

The half-Noise came slowly, appearing from all sides. They nipped and growled at each other, apparently trying to decide what to do with the non-Noise beings before them.

_Here we go_, thought Beat, forcing himself to relax. Almost instantly he felt the Noise power seep into him and saw his vision turn red. _I've gotta control this. Everybody needs me to. I can't screw this up._

All the people seemed to turn transparent, revealing their Noise forms in such stunning clarity he couldn't believe he hadn't been able to notice it before.

He glanced to his allies. They too bore Noise, but their Noise stayed inside their masters. There were many small Noise within the low-ranked Reapers, most still yet to awaken.

Joshua's Noise was huge, filling up every inch of his slim body. It was something human in shape but not in nature, wanting to devour everything but kept under restraint by the Composer. Beat suddenly had a new respect for Joshua.

Rhyme's Noise was completely still, the tattoos tied up into a tiny tight ball. He couldn't even see what animal it was, though he knew it was supposed to be a flying squirrel. That was what she had come back as after her Soul was bound to a pin.

Minamimoto's lion Noise was now raring to fight again, though it was still weakened from before. It was doubtful Minamimoto would be able to take his Noise form in that state. Mr. Doi's shrew noise sat silently, waiting for the chance to show its surprising power. The two Noise seemed to be aware of each other, probably because their masters were currently connected by pact.

Uzuki had a horse Noise awake and active, but not strong enough to manifest itself yet. Beat wondered if she felt its stirrings within her and was realized what it was. Perhaps that was behind part of her endless drive.

Kariya's Noise was a fox. Beat remembered that fox, but that was not what caused him to stagger in shock. The Noise…it was nothing _but_ a Noise. The human body he and the others had been seen was merely an illusion. But the eyes didn't have the usual Noise pinprick light in them, and watched Beat with perfect understanding.

As soon as fox locked eyes with him, a rapid rush of images flashed through Beat's mind. Kariya feeling persistently ill after the third Game, Kariya's Noise emerging while he was in the RG, Beat himself skating by as Kariya tried to recollect his senses, Kariya feeling better, Kariya feeling _much worse_ when he realized that he was now Noise when he looked in the mirror of his apartment, Kariya trying to make sense of it all when he saw Uzuki running to him and saying something about Beat and Reaper Wings…

_Don't tell_, Kariya the Noise told him telepathically, a firm urgency and shame to the tone. _Unless I lose myself. I don't know how long my mind will last in this state…_

Beat didn't need to know any more details at the moment. It was unlike Kariya to talk like that, but it was Kariya.

Beat turned to the half-Noise. There were all kinds of animals: frogs, kangaroos, wolves, ravens, minks, cats, dogs, penguins, pigs. All of them were opponents he needed to defeat, ghosts that were entangled in bestial tattoo lines. Then they all screeched, rushing forward to attack.

Beat's countering roar was enough to stun the half-Noise in front, interrupting their lunges and slowing down the opponents behind them. While they were still recovering Beat swatted them with his purple tattoo-covered forelimbs. His swipe took out many half-Noise at once, with several having their Noise shattered outright. The core Noise, weakened and frightened, retreated back into their now-ordinary humans. The regular Reapers focused on moving these unconscious people out of the battlefield and into the safety of the 104 Building.

The fragments left behind turned into regular chump Noise, which soon turned on the half-Noise rather than the Reapers. Beat was puzzled until he noticed how most of the Noise surrounded Kariya protectively. He remembered vaguely how the fox Noise was able to exert control over his own Noise, and guessed he was doing something similar with these regular Noise. He _was_ a boss-ranked Noise right now, after all.

"So zetta slow!" proclaimed Minamimoto, doing surprisingly well in his regular Reaper form against the hordes of half-Noise. His kicks often knocked out his opponents in one hit. "You're just imaginary numbers! I'm the _infinity_!"

Near Minamimoto Mr. Doi tapped a pin on his shirt and summoned a stream of fire to roast in half-Noise around him. Any half-Noise still eager to fight afterward were soon subdued by a frying pan to the head, his medium. Uzuki spent most of her time evading and shooting at her opponents, not wandering too far from Kariya.

The crossing was soon little more than a writhing mass of many colors, though to Beat it was only many shades of red. The half-Noise went down surprisingly fast, but more came in faster despite everyone's efforts.

_Man, they jus' keep comin', _thought Beat with frustration. _I mean, Shibuya's jus' a city. There can be only so many people, right?_

Suddenly the half-Noise skittered back from Beat, though they kept attacking the others. At first Beat was confused, but he soon spotted the reason for their sudden retreat. Neku and Shiki had arrived.

They were more three-fourths Noise than half-Noise now. Their heads were completely masked by tattoos, giving Neku a red wolf head and Shiki a violet cat head, while long tattoo tendrils lashed around on their backs. Their postures and were bestial and hunched forward, their sharp tails whipping back and forth as guttural yet musical growls emitted from them. What first appeared to be a small floating cat Noise was in fact the stuffed toy Mr. Mew swathed in tattoo lines. The battlefield was soon flooded by Shiki's living objects, making the battle needlessly harder for everyone else, including the other half-Noise.

Beat felt his own Noise react to their presence. His Noise knew they were the biggest threat, the leaders of this haphazard pack. The urge to attack, rend, and utterly _break _threatened to overwhelm Beat. But Beat knew that he had to remain in control. His goal was to save them, not destroy them. Still, he knew that in order to save them he would have to fight them and break down their Noise.

A rhino half-Noise charged for Beat while he was distracted, but it became entangled in the string of Rhyme's yoyo. She then fired a barrage of energy bullets at the trapped creature.

"We're going to handle the rest of them," shouted Joshua over to Beat, as he blasted several half-Noise with white beams of light. "If you take them out, then handling the rest of them should be much easier. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah, no problem," Beat replied, a slight growl to his voice. He wasn't going to betray any weakness to the Composer. Who knew what Joshua might do to Neku and Shiki if he failed. No, Beat had to do this himself.

"As long as you're sure," answered Joshua, as he summoned and dropped a vending machine on a large elephant half-Noise. "Just know we're here for back-up if you absolutely need it."

Beat nodded, and then flew over to Neku and Shiki on his skateboard. Both mostly-Noise rushed toward him on all fours. Beat turned sharply upward to avoid their coordinated assault, but was struck in the gut by Mr. Mew. The blonde Reaper then leapt off his skateboard, which continued to move on its own, and left it to deal with the mostly-Noise Mr. Mew. The possessed skateboard and possessed stuffed toy matched each other blow for blow.

Beat dove down straight for Shiki, pointed wings spread out wide. He tried to slash her with his wings, but she guarded against it with her claws and tails. The tendrils on the cat-girl's back stretched out to capture Beat, but he evaded. Neku ran in to assist, but Shiki swatted at him and hissed, apparently not wanting the wolf-boy to steal her prey. He growled back at her and skulked away.

Beat roared at both of them, but it had little effect. It only seemed to remind them that their real opponent was in the air above them, as they turned their angry attentions away from each other.

_Shit. They're so consumed by their Noise that they can hardly even hear me_, thought Beat. _I gotta get through all the Noise around them_.

Neku threw his head back and let out a long howl that was both monstrous and melodious. Any half-Noise that were too close screeched and crumpled to the ground. Kariya cried out, his human façade flickering for a moment. Beat himself was stunned briefly and had to fly back up to avoid hitting the pavement.

_Damn, I can't get near them without gettin' all torn up._

Beat snarled, his expression halfway between a smile and a grimace.

_But since when have I let that stop me?_

Beat dove down and rammed into Neku, and then carried him high into the air with him. The wolf-boy bit and slashed at him furiously, howling all the while, and Beat's Noise was being driven mad by the onslaught. Beat ignored it all.

"This is for your own good, Neku," said Beat to his thrashing captive, looking to the sky. "You saved me back then from myself. Now I'll save _you_ from yourself."

Beat plummeted down and slammed Neku down into the pavement. Some of Neku's tattoos shattered on impact, and he let out a yell that sounded somewhat human. Beat let loose a roar that further broke Neku's tattoo armor. Neku howled back at him furiously. All other sounds were drowned out by the animal screams, and all allies and enemies were kept at bay.

The howling made Beat's head hurt, and his Noise couldn't stand it. _No, I cannot lose. I will not lose. I will…not…lose!_

A louder, more bestial roar ripped out of Beat's throat. His wings flared out, stretching and stretching. The raw power of the destructive sound blew what remained of nearby bystanders away. Neku stayed pinned under him and took the full force of the scream. Beat only stopped when he ran out of breath to yell with. It was enough to leave Neku unconscious.

Beat got up, his body hunched over and alert. Somehow things felt different, though he wasn't sure how they were different. It was hard to think, much less speak. But he felt good, he knew that much. He had just defeated the strongest opponent yet. And if he felt good, then what was there to worry about? He hadn't felt this good in weeks. Hell, he hadn't felt this good in _years_. He growled with every other breath.

Everyone's attention, all on him. Yes, _this_ was what he wanted, recognition and respect. He had always wanted it, but nobody ever gave it to him. He was always just the joker, the fall guy, the one trailing behind the others. But now _he _was the respected one, the boss. He slammed his foot onto the ground and they all trembled. He grinned widely. Yes, _yes_! He would _make _them listen!

His senses were going into overdrive, causing everything to become a hurricane of crimson colors and blurred sounds. He didn't understand any of it, by he didn't care as he thrashed and roared at everything freely. Yes, _free_! There were no rules except his, and he _had_ no rules.

He felt a blue power rush into him, turning his dark red vision purple. For a moment he was unhappy, though he didn't understand why. What was wrong with more power? Especially if that power was being purposefully offered to him…The voice of the power, so small, what was it saying?

"Now that's enough," echoed a very different voice.

Suddenly that very power seared his veins and his very soul. He - His Noise - screeched and lashed out at everything neared it, desperate to stop the terrible pain. Him…His Noise…Him…It wasn't just him screaming…His Noise…This was-

Beat's vision abruptly went to being just blue-colored and became focused again, though he was still hurting a lot. He became aware of how painfully bent over he was. But he was unable to straightened himself, or even move. There were his friends, staring up at him rather oddly (_Up_? Was he floating too?). Even Minamimoto was staring, and he didn't stare at anything besides an especially confounding math problem and maybe Konoshi. Kariya's Noise state was no longer hidden. What was their problem?

Well, everything around them was torn up almost beyond recognition. Were those lampposts and road pieces _floating? _Were those _bottomless_ holes that were ripped open in the street? Maybe that was their problem. Never had Kat Street seen such…wait, when did they get to Kat Street? That was nowhere near the Scramble Crossing. No half-Noise were in sight either.

Except…Except…what were these wriggling lines all over him, covering every inch of him like a living cage? They held him so high, so tight…and then he caught a glimpse of one of his wings to the side, now at least three times as bigger as it had been before. He knew it was his wing because he felt it move, such a surprising strain on his normally sturdy back. All these lines cutting into him…this was, this was-

The street underneath became cloaked with water, overflowing from a broken fire hydrant. It made the ground a liquid mirror, showing a huge hulking figure. It had the head of a bear and shoulders like a football player's outfit, only with two lightning-bolt spikes coming out of each shoulder. Its tattoo paws were over a foot long, not including the sharp claws. The rest of the creature from the abdomen-down, Beat soon realized with growing horror, was _him_, the part not yet taken over by the purple tattoos.

He let out a scream, which came out of his grizzly Noise mouth as a screeching roar had further cracked the road and buildings around him. Joshua created a barrier to block the shock wave from reaching the others.

_Do you get it now?_ said Joshua's voice in Beat's head. How was Joshua talking to him telepathically? He wasn't in a pact with him like-

_Beat! _Rhyme called to him, also in his mind. _Do you hear us now?_

Rhyme! Joshua was communicating with him by using Rhyme as a medium between them. Neku had done something similar with him and Shiki in the past, so they could have a three-way telepathic conversation when they wanted to. Rhyme had an active pact with Joshua, and then he must have activated her _other_ pact with him to reach him. But that meant-

Rhyme's expression was stern but tired. When Beat looked carefully, he could see the shimmering of a blue aura around both her and Joshua. His own blue vision, caused by the same blue aura, had made that hard to see. Which meant Rhyme was in consumption right now.

_You have saved everyone but yourself_, Joshua went on. _Now you're turning Noise, and I cannot allow that._

Beat felt that searing pain in his blood and spirit again, only now it was worse. He thought he heard his sister protesting, but there was too much roaring, agony, and shattering for him to know for sure. Everything slipped to blackness.

IIIIII

Beat wasn't sure if he was awake. He wasn't even sure if he was alive. Well, he knew he wasn't _alive_ alive, exactly, but was he still-

He wasn't at Kat Street anymore, he knew that much. At first there was only darkness, but as his eyes adjusted he saw gray walls and water running in a channel next to him.

_Shibuya River_, he thought weakly, surprised that he could think at all. He was below Shibuya. How did he get there? Seemed like he could never keep track of himself these days.

His Noise laid broken all around him. He knew this because he saw pieces of himself - his Noise - on the ground and water a few feet away, twisted purple fragments now fading into static. Was _he _fading to static? He didn't know. He couldn't move to check. And honestly, he just didn't care anymore. He felt numb, and after all the pain and horror and rage numbness felt good.

"So _there_ you are," Joshua commented as he lazily floated into Beat's limited sight. "Still not quite gone, huh? Thought you might have been done for once you fell down and _though _the ground. But here you are, still kicking."

"What…do you want?" Beat asked tiredly. He just wanted to sleep. If he slept now, he could sleep forever. He would never have to leave this peaceful state again. He would never hurt anyone else again. He had hurt so many people.

"You are such a fascinating specimen," remarked the Composer, his smile far too relaxed for the situation. "You act loud and selfish, yet neither is your true nature. You push others away and yet you love them more than you do yourself. Or, perhaps I should say, you love their _attention _and _love_ more than yourself."

"Whatchu…babblin' about?" asked Beat, in no mood for one of Joshua's speeches.

"Your parents never loved you for what you were. All they cared about was what you did, or didn't, accomplish," Joshua continued. "So they paid all their attention to your sister, the perfect student and daughter. And you hated that, and hated yourself for not being able to compete. You couldn't hate your parents, because they were right, nor could you hate your sister, because she was perfect and loved you along with everything else. Love from a person who loves everything equally is cold comfort, isn't it? So you blame yourself for everything, because who else could you blame?"

Beat said nothing.

"You isolated yourself, pretended you didn't care, but you did," Joshua added. "You always cared, even moreso than most others. You were taught that appearance was everything, that performance was everything, and that people were nothing but judges of that appearance and performance. If you let them get close, they would see you for what you really are: a paper tiger easily shredded. Hence why you value people's attention over the actual people, because any person can hurt you, but any attention is good attention, right? Hence why your fee was just your sister's memories of you, and not your actual sister, _right_?"

Beat glowered at the Composer. "It's better than…bein' someone like you."

Joshua laughed. "Well, I like the way I am. I personally consider it better than the lot you have cast for yourself. We are what we think we are, as it's said. You _think_ you are terrible and beyond saving, and you _will _become terrible and beyond saving."

"Wha…?" Beat began, before he felt something tighten in his chest and head. There was a distant roaring reverberating deep inside him. His Noise wasn't erased, only severely injured and severely angry. Now it was bubbling up quickly like a coming geyser, one that would soon reach the surface and drown him. The shattered tattoos on him began to reform, and a low growl crawled out of his throat.

Joshua's casually smiling face became more serious. "Of course I cannot allow you to become such a threat. Understand?" He dialed numbers on his cellphone and three refridgerators popped into reality, hovering in midair over Beat.

Beat could not move. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to, with the deadly Noise thrashing within him. He closed his eyes. "I…"

There were footsteps, which grew quicker and louder. It was accompanied by the ringing of a bell.

"Stop!"

Beat forced his eyes open. Was that-

"Stop!" Rhyme shouted again, as she thrust herself between Beat and Joshua, spreading her arms wide. "Leave him alone!"

"Rhyme?" Beat croaked, trying to keep the beast of his voice. He wasn't sure if he succeeded.

But more importantly, this was Rhyme…with emotions. How could she be emotional if her passion was taken away? But no, it wasn't quite emotion. There was still an emptiness and coolness to her words. Her voice was firm, commanding, but not concerned or frightened or angry like it should have been. But then why was she here in the first place, if she didn't care?

"Why should I?" asked Joshua, not sounding very worried as the floating refrigerators vanished. "He will turn into a Noise otherwise, a Noise of pure destructive power. No one wants that, not even him."

"He won't do that," said Rhyme resolutely. "Beat is stronger than that."

Beat couldn't help but be amazed at his sister's faith in him. Why did she trust him, even now? _He _certainly didn't trust himself right now.

"And if you are wrong?" asked Joshua.

There was a flash of blue light, and Beat felt his feeble spirit mix with Rhyme's in a pact. Though he felt stronger now, so did his Noise.

"I am not wrong," Rhyme replied seriously.

"Why do you have so much belief in your brother?" questioned the Composer. He seemed curious rather than angry.

"Because he is a good person," said Rhyme simply. "He has always looked after me and everyone else he cares about, even though he doesn't like taking credit for it. He won't let people down when they're counting on him. That's not the person he is."

_But…that's not me at all…_thought Beat, as he felt the Noise twist within him. _I'm weak, selfish…_

_**No, you are strong**_, Rhyme's thoughts answered him. _**So many people look up to you, even if you don't know it. You have so much drive. The kind of drive that inspires people. It's contagious, and it lasts. Trust me.**_

"I might be more convinced if your tone was so robotic," remarked Joshua to Rhyme. "Do you really believe that, or is that response just automatic, what you know you _should_ say?"

Rhyme's eyes narrowed, making the petite blonde look somewhat formidable. "I believe in him. And I will protect him, because he has always protected me. Brother is always sacrificing himself for others. He deserves some protection himself."

"So you believe you owe him then?" asked Joshua.

"This isn't about debt," Rhyme growled, as if insulted by such a notion. "This is about my brother. This is about bonds."

Rose-colored tattoos began to form over her small frame, turning her outstretched arms into web-like wings and her feet into clawed appendages. A wide, segmented tail emerged behind her and small tufted ears appeared on the sides of her head. A yellow pinprick light shone in her pupils.

_Rhyme_! thought Beat with shock and alarm. He forced himself to sit up. _What's happenin' ? How is this possible?_

"This is about not standing by as I've always done before," Rhyme went on, her voice rising. "This is about not letting a bastard like you have your way with people. I will _not_ let you take my brother, because my brother means everything to me!"

Beat could only stare, partially in wonder and partially in horror. His sister, so calm a few minutes before, was suddenly swamping him with raging emotions. The Noise in him retreated back, fearful of this one creature his sister wielded. "Rhyme…"

Rhyme shut her eyes tight and gritted her teeth, her entire body trembling. She let out a loud gasp and then a long wail as large Reaper wings broke out of her back.

"_Rhyme_!" Beat shouted. He knew what was happening. It was what had happened to earlier, when his own Reaper powers reemerged. It meant-

She crumpled to the ground, struggling to catch her breath.

Joshua neither attacked or retreated. Instead, he broke out into a smug grin and began to clap. "Well done, Raimu Bito. You have shattered your seal."

"What?" Rhyme asked with a slight animal growl to her voice, unsure whether to take this comment as a compliment or a threat. She got back onto her feet.

"The seal on your passion," Joshua answered. "Any Game entry fee involving the self is sealed away because it cannot be directly taken, you see. Memories, personality, emotion, that kind of thing. But if one becomes strong enough, or if the seal is weakened enough, _or_ if someone wields the right power, that person can break that seal, just as you did. Congratulations."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Rhyme tensely.

"It means you have become strong," Joshua answered. "Worthy. You too, Daisukenojo."

"Don't call me-" Beat started to protest, before he was seized with sudden overwhelming pain. He cried out, doubling over. The Noise! It was-

"Beat!" Rhyme exclaimed, this time with real fear and anxiety in her voice.

"Oh, don't worry, he won't fade," Joshua said with a mild smile. "I won't let him. Because this is all according to plan."

Both Bito siblings stared at the Composer.

"_Whatchu_ say?" growled Beat.

"Look down," said Joshua. "Both of you."

Puzzled, Beat and Rhyme glanced down, and found themselves lying on the ground.

"Wha…?" Beat asked, confounded. "Why am I down there? I'm _here_."

Rhyme stayed fearfully quiet, just gaping at her other self on the ground.

"The reality of the Shibuya River is currently much more stable than the rest of Shibuya. It's specially guarded against such threats, after all," Joshua began, seeming amused by their stunned expressions. "The UG and the RG are still separate here, and so the living and the dead are forced apart as it is natural."

_Then _Beat understood. That wasn't him down there. That was his _body_, which had failed to separate properly before due to the dimensional mixing. Like Kariya was currently both Noise and not Noise, he had been both dead and not dead. Until now. But if Rhyme was also looking down at herself, that meant-

"Welcome to the land of the dead, Persephone," Joshua spoke to the frightened Rhyme, his latest grin the widest yet. "You bit the bait, and now this is your new home."

"Y-You _bastard_!" Beat yelled. "You were just after Rhyme all this time, yo? Is _that_ why all these half-Noise and crap's been happenin'?"

"No, that was all Megumi's fault there, and a foolish oversight of mine. And I didn't plan on leaving _you_ out either," Joshua replied, turning to Beat. "But it did make this part a lot easier in the end, so I suppose it worked out. I've got both of you here now, your powers unlocked."

Rhyme quickly recomposed herself, though Beat could still feel her fear. "What do you want, Joshua?"

"A Conductor," stated the Composer simply. "One that is potent and intelligent, able to support Shibuya and erase any threats to it, while staying loyal to me. One that keeps all Games and Reapers in line, yet is revered rather than reviled. The typical requirements, really. And you and your power, Raimu, are perfect for the job."

"What power?" asked Rhyme.

"You, like your brother, have 100% destructive Imagination, but it works differently from his," Joshua explained. "While Beat has the power to _break_ things, you have the power to _neutralize_ things."

"How's that any different than my power, yo?" asked Beat.

"It's…well, you'll find out soon enough," said Joshua with a mild smile. "Because you _do_ realize what is about to happen, don't you?"

Beat didn't understand. Why couldn't Joshua just be straightforward for once, instead of all these roundabout-

"Beat…" Rhyme said, almost whined. "Beat, I feel strange…" She slowly turned back to him at him, the whites of her eyes becoming black as her irises shrunk. Her small frame, half-covered in spreading tattoo lines, trembled slightly. "S-Something's wrong…"

Beat's breath caught as he felt his own Noise broil within him, infecting his very bones and blood. Already the tattoos lines were snaking around him, bindings his limbs, as his vision turned red and then purple. It roared at the challenging Noise within Rhyme, eager to defeat it and devour it, consume it…

_Consumption! _No! They were already bound by their active pact, and there was nothing to break the pact this time. No, no, _no_! He didn't want to do this! But more and more his Noise wanted to do this, and more and more it was taking over him.

"Now I told you what I want," Joshua went on. "But what I really _need_ is to defuse two imminent threats, With Daisukenojo's shabby seal and Raimu's neutralizing powers eating away at the lock on her Soul, the leaking of your powers was inevitable. But you've seen the unnatural effects of mostly-blocked power on Minamimoto and the half-Noise. Most likely you notice the especially primal Noise both of you have. If either one of you went full Noise, the whole of Shibuya would be threatened."

Beat tried to speak, but all that came out was a warped growl.

"But if I have one of you consume the other, one Noise with be erased and the other will become stable and controllable," Joshua continued. "Nothing is wasted by erasure on either side, and I happen to get a Conductor-class Reaper out of it. I talked about Raimu earlier, but really it doesn't matter who is victorious. The city wins either way by losing two enemies and gaining one ally."

"Y-You…" Beat snarled, though he was unable to move. His body was too caught up fighting with itself.

"What…What's…" Rhyme pleaded, tattoo lines slithering up her exposed neck. She tipped her head up like she was trying to keep her head above water. Her arms, already heavily weaved into tattoo wings, hung limply at her sides.

"Well, I hate to involve myself in family squabbles," said Joshua casually, as he slowly disappeared from sight like the Cheshire Cat. No, _they_ were the ones fading, as they were being spirited away to the Noise zone.

"_Be_-" Rhyme tried to cry out, but the tattoos lines wove an animal muzzle over her mouth, making her unable to speak. She sank to her hands and knees. Beat also felt himself drop down under the weight of the growing lines and madness.

"…So I will stay out of your way," Joshua finished, his voice a mere echo. "What you are about to go through is not so much for the sake of Conductor as it is for the sake of Shibuya. Try to keep that in mind."

IIIIII

It was just them now. His entire body hummed with power as if his veins were filled with nothing but rivers of sound. And what intense sound, and what giddy sound that was pulsing through him. It almost overrode the throbbing in his wings and in his head.

Before him was a rose-colored lying-squirrel Noise, its body slender and graceful. It floated in the air before him, lithe limbs stretched out to keep it aloft. Instead of just one tail, it had two twin tails. It had large tufted ears, making it almost look bat-like.

The flying-squirrel Noise felt the same eagerness he did, as it circled over his head. He knew it because they were connected, and everything he felt, it felt. In fact, it was such a violent whirlpool of wordless thoughts and wild emotions that it was hard telling which feelings belonged to who. Not that it mattered. Only one thing mattered to either of them: defeat the opponent, and then devour them.

The flying-squirrel Noise dived-bombed him, digging its claws into him and gnawing on his tattoo arm. He flung it off, and it landed on all fours a few feet away, chattering angrily. The area she had bit him was flickering violently and cracking some.

He charged after it, but the flying-squirrel Noise was far faster than him. Whenever he got into range it scampered elsewhere, often pausing to taunt him or to fire tail segments at him. The tattoo tail reformed almost immediately after the long-range attack. The sharp projectiles had the same brittle effect the bites did. Though the areas eventually regenerated, the strikes seemed to cancel out the power in the wounded places. There was a word for that, he knew it.

Fed up with chasing it, he slammed the ground with his paws. The gray ground trembled beneath him, and so did the flying-squirrel Noise. But as soon as some of the Noise's tattoo fragments fell onto the ground, it canceled out the effects of the roar in the area around it.

_Neutralization_. That was the word. Where had he heard that before?

The flying-squirrel Noise climbed up the gray wall with its sharp claws, and then jumped off and spread its limbs to soar. The wall it touched began to crack like his tattoos, as did whatever ground it had set foot on. It began to chatter loudly, and suddenly everything, including him, was flickering and cracking. The blue aura around it strengthened.

Everything this Noise touched, whether with claws or sound waves, became withered, _neutralized_. Its effect was slow but required little power behind it and could effect more things than his _breaking_ did. _That _was the difference between them. Why was he even thinking this? Why was he even _thinking_?

He let loose a shattering roar to drown out the neutralizing chattering. The reality itself twisted and warped as the two destructive forces clashed. He felt his tattoos and very wings start to crack, but he was louder than the flying-squirrel Noise, and that extra volume gave him extra power. He felt the blue flow of light began to favor him again.

Soon his sound began to overwhelm the flying-squirrel's, until the sound reached the Noise itself. It gave out a shriek as several large tattoo pieces snapped off it, and it began to fall. It made a ringing sound as it fell.

He was right below it, so the tattoo pieces embedded themselves in him, causing him to roar in pain. It also caused him to _think_: No, this wasn't right. He didn't want to do this. This wasn't, he wasn't-

But then the flying-squirrel Noise landed on top of him too, and started to bite and claw and stab him with its sharp tail. It drove him into a frenzy, as he thrashed and bellowed to get the flying-squirrel Noise off of him. Eventually he began throwing himself and the flying-squirrel Noise into the wall, until the wall broke and the Noise was forced to let go. There was a space of nothing just outside of the wall.

As the flying-squirrel Noise fell beside him, there was that ringing sound again. He slammed one of his paws down on the Noise before it could run away again, breaking even more of its tattoos. It made a sound halfway between a squeak and a wail. He growled triumphantly in return. All he had to do was snap its wings, and it would be-

Then he saw it, the sound of the ringing sound. It was a bell that hung from a string around the flying-squirrel's neck. He stared at it. Why did this Noise have a bell? Didn't that belong to someone else, someone else he knew? Wait, what was that, lying beneath the tattoos? A _human_? A _girl_?

The paw that he was using to keep her pinned down cracked and crumbled away. He had forgotten about her neutralization powers. Beneath the tattoo paw was…a _hand_. A _human_ hand. He was human. He was-

_Beat! _And suddenly everything flooded back to him, like it had been sealed behind a dam. He was Beat, and that was Rhyme, and _my god what had he done_?

Rhyme was lying on the ground unconscious, encased in a raging blue aura and flickering violently. Most of her tattoos lay broken on the ground, though her Reaper wings were still intact. Her bell was cracked.

He tried to call out her name, but all that came out were growls and roars that caused her to shudder. He realized that his entire head, and almost all of his body, was entombed in tattoo lines. Even the broken spots were swiftly mending, as he and his breaking power got stronger and she and her neutralizing power got weaker.

The horror of his current reality made Beat want to sink back into the insanity that he had just emerged from. He would have almost welcomed the embrace of his Noise if it made him oblivious to it all. Indeed he felt his Noise quickly rising again, eager to swallow both him and his sister.

But he refused to give into it, even now. Especially now. He would not let himself and his Noise consume Rhyme, and he wouldn't let Rhyme die. Even if…Especially if…

He reached back and put both regenerated tattoo paws on the base of his wings. He felt his Noise give cries of alarm and warning, rumblings that he felt all the way to his blood and bones.

_Screw you, Noise_, he thought.

And he broke his wings.

There was a deafening screech in his head, or maybe that was him screaming. Regardless, the next thing he knew was that he was lying on the ground, powerless. Everything was so blue, including Rhyme…Rhyme? Yeah, that was Rhyme, bent over him with tears in her eyes.

"Yo…" Beat spoke, the first word he had said to her since the consumption began. He finally had his voice back. "You…okay?"

Rhyme simply lifted his head and cradled it close to her, as she buried her face in his hair. His hair? Where was his cap? Oh well, didn't matter. Not much mattered at this point really. Rhyme would live. That was what mattered. He was tired.

"Don't go," Rhyme murmured into his hair. She gripped him tighter, and Beat saw that her Noise tattoos were starting to reform. She carefully wrapped her Reaper wings around him.

"…Ain't goin' nowhere," Beat replied softly. "You're gonna be gettin' me and my power. You gonna be strong, Rhyme."

Rhyme gave a quiet sob. "It shouldn't have to be this way. Joshua _used_ us."

"That's why you gotta be strong, Rhyme," Beat answered. It was so hard staying awake. "You gotta…protect everybody now. You gotta…be there for 'em."

"Beat…" Rhyme said, her voice cracking. She started to weep more openly now.

"You gotta…" Beat went on, voice barely above a whisper. "We gotta win this. We gotta beat 'im. Break everythin' down. Make everythin' start again. We gotta do it, Rhyme."

He closed his eyes. It took too much effort to keep them open.

"…Hey Rhyme? You think Mr. Doi's found his cookin' stuff yet? You know, I never did find it myself…maybe Pi-Face found it for 'im? Never thought those guys would ever be buddies…Heh…Never thought Lollipop and Pinky would be…our friends… either…Never…thought…"

He stopped thinking.

IIIIII

Mr. H hadn't expected such a mess when he got back. Indeed Shibuya's reality still had some conspicuous holes and tears in it, though apparently most had been fixed by Joshua while he was away. The memories of the populace had been modified to think that a great cyclone had been through the area. The ex-Players and the Reapers knew better, of course, especially the new Conductor.

Rhyme was visiting his coffee shop right now, actually. She hardly looked any different physically, just that her hair was a slightly darker blonde. She wore her brother's old skull cap, which now had a big tear across the front as well as a singed hole at the tip. Around her neck was her brother's heavy skull chain as well as her necklace with the cracked bell. She was currently downing some bouillabaise, even though she had never cared for the stuff before. Beat had loved it though.

"So, how've you been?" she asked with a winning smile.

That smile didn't put Mr. H at ease like it used to. "Oh, just the usual. Neku and the others stopped by earlier." The others with Neku now included Uzuki and Minamimoto, though the latter tended to come and go as he pleased.

Kariya was not with them because he had become a full Noise when the dimensions were repaired, and was just a Progfox now. A Progfox that was friendlier than usual and with a preference for lollipops, but a Progfox.

"Really?" asked Rhyme, adjusting her brother's cap as it fell over her eyes. It was too big for her, so it did that a lot. "When was that?"

"About a half-hour ago," answered Mr. H, pouring himself another cup of coffee. "You just missed them."

"Aww man, I was hopin' to talk to 'em," Rhyme replied, looking disappointed. She slumped on the counter.

"About what?" asked Mr. H.

"Oh, I think you already know, yo," she said with a grin, but her eyes did not match the smile.

Mr. H paused. "Josh probably already knows too."

"Probably," Rhyme replied. "He just don't take us seriously."

"Not the first time someone's tried to overthrow him," said Mr. H. "Part of the hazard of being Composer, no matter how well liked you are."

"Well, he's certainly _not_ well liked," said Rhyme, and this time she didn't try to hide the malice in her eyes. "Neku don't like him, Shiki don't like him, the Reapers don't like him, and _I _certainly don't like him for what he forced me and Beat to do. Minamimoto goes without saying. I don't think even _you_ like 'im at this point, or you would be tellin' Joshua lots more than you've been. Is it true that you tried to overthrow him yourself once?"

"Where did you hear such an atrocious rumor like that?" asked Mr. H, his tone playful.

"It's surprising the places you find and the people you meet," she said with a smile. "Especially when you make a hole in reality to travel between dimensions."

"You shouldn't do that," Mr. H said, his tone now serious. "It creates imbalance between worlds. It could create chaos."

"And Joshua doesn't?" Rhyme countered cheerfully, before her face grew somber. "He's used and backstabbed everybody he's ever known, or not known, and he expects to stay in power?" She fiddled with her brother's hat again. "Yeah, he's dealt with Reapers tryin' to assassinate him, but what will he do about a _war _against him, a _revolution_? He can beat anyone one-on-one, but can he win against _Shibuya_?"

She stood up and pushed her chair in. Then she picked up the old skateboard that had been propped up against the counter.

"Well, it's not time yet anyway," Rhyme said, now back to her chipper self. "We're still ain't ready yet. I myself ain't ready yet. I still need to get stronger, for him and for everybody else."

She turned to Mr. H with a perfect smile.

"Well, I'll see you later! I've got things to do and people to meet!"

Rhyme left the restaurant, her cracked bell ringing each step she walked. Mr. H plopped down with a sigh, gazing down at his coffee.

"…You may have made a big mistake this time, Josh," he murmured to himself. "People are erased from existence, but not from memories. People don't stop fighting for the people they love just because they're gone. In fact, they fight all the harder for them."

_IIIIII_

_And it is finished__! I thank everyone who has read this to the end and had added this to fave/alerts/done reviews/etc. It has been quite a ride for a short fic. I never thought this story would be as popular as it is, considering people tend to hate on Beat. Guess there's more Beat fans out there than I thought.  
_

_About the ending: it was not what I had initially planned __at all_. _The original ending was actually a mostly peaceful one, but it felt hollow. So I re-thought about it, and remembered where this story originally started: as a failed Noise of Regalement segment. Then I knew what needed to happen (consumption), and it fell into place from there. _

_Seriously, I'm so honored by you guys. I hope you enjoyed this fic all the way through. _

_Cya!_


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